Molecular assemblies on surfaces: towards physical and electronic decoupling of organic molecules

• Sabine Maier and
• Meike Stöhr

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 950–956, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.71

• quenched on bare Cu(111) and would require three molecular decoupling layers to be probed on Cu(111). In all three studies using hBN, ordered molecular films were observed. The decoupling even allowed for the formation of complex self-assemblies such as kagome lattices by tuning the number and position of

Design of V-shaped cantilevers for enhanced multifrequency AFM measurements

• Mehrnoosh Damircheli and
• Babak Eslami

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1525–1541, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.135

• , multifrequency AFM has gained the attention of different fields, such as, the measurement of nanoscale chemical and mechanical properties of human dentin [2], the mapping of viscoelastic materials [3], or the characterization of thin molecular films [4]. As different fields have implemented multifrequency AFM in

Self-assembly and spectroscopic fingerprints of photoactive pyrenyl tectons on hBN/Cu(111)

• Domenik M. Zimmermann,
• Knud Seufert,
• Luka Ðorđević,
• Tobias Hoh,
• Sushobhan Joshi,
• Tomas Marangoni,
• Davide Bonifazi and
• Willi Auwärter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1470–1483, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.130

• molecular adsorption (Figure S11, Supporting Information File 1), open-porous structures would feature a smaller work function shift compared to densely packed molecular films. In the absence of charge transfer, the work function was assumed to decrease upon the adsorption of pyrenes on hBN/Cu(111) [84

Hybridization vs decoupling: influence of an h-BN interlayer on the physical properties of a lander-type molecule on Ni(111)

• Maximilian Schaal,
• Takumi Aihara,
• Marco Gruenewald,
• Felix Otto,
• Jari Domke,
• Roman Forker,
• Hiroyuki Yoshida and
• Torsten Fritz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1168–1177, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.101

• on metal single crystals are the high crystal quality, chemical inertness and the wide band gap of approx. 6 eV, which apparently renders h-BN a promising candidate for the decoupling of highly ordered molecular films [9][10]. However, indications for a significant hybridization of organic molecules

Tuning adhesion forces between functionalized gold colloidal nanoparticles and silicon AFM tips: role of ligands and capillary forces

• Sven Oras,
• Sergei Vlassov,
• Marta Berholts,
• Rünno Lõhmus and
• Karine Mougin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 660–670, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.61

• nanoparticles (NPs) and silicon AFM tip. Adhesion forces were mapped by atomic force microscope equipped with PeakForce QNM mode. It was shown that the adhesion response was significantly affected by the functional nature of the ligands, packing density of the thin molecular films grafted on the NPs, and by the

Towards molecular spintronics

• Georgeta Salvan and
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2464–2466, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.245

• . Fabrication, characterization, and optimization of molecular thin films and interfaces: Various deposition techniques to create suitable molecular films were tested for a variety of molecules. The structure, morphology, and molecular orientation of the layers were fundamentally characterized and optimized

• characterization and technology projects that allowed targeted and efficient synthesis of appropriate molecules and molecular films. Device demonstration and on-chip integration: Rolled-up nanotechnology was used to create vertically stacked electronic devices with an organic tunnel transport layer for sensing

(Metallo)porphyrins for potential materials science applications

• Lars Smykalla,
• Carola Mende,
• Michael Fronk,
• Pablo F. Siles,
• Michael Hietschold,
• Georgeta Salvan,
• Dietrich R. T. Zahn,
• Oliver G. Schmidt,
• Tobias Rüffer and
• Heinrich Lang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1786–1800, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.180

• successfully acquired both on the diamagnetic (H2TPP(OMe)4) and paramagnetic (NiTPP(OMe)4 and CuTPP(OMe)4) molecular films on silicon substrates. Based on numerical calculations using an optical model described in [18], which was developed by us and applied successfully for porphyrinoid-based thin films [17

• -assembled adlayers of H2TPP(OH)4 on Au(111) and Ag(110) [44]: To optimize the transport properties of potential electronic or spintronic devices it is necessary that the thin molecular films show a reproducible and stable arrangement with a high degree of long-range order. One way to improve the self

Formation of ferromagnetic molecular thin films from blends by annealing

• Peter Robaschik,
• Ye Ma,
• Salahud Din and
• Sandrine Heutz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1469–1475, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.146

• vacant space which allows the MnPc molecular columns to arrange into the β-phase. So the co-deposition of phthalocyanines with small molecules could allow for the formation of highly oriented molecular films at lower process temperatures. This is crucial for later integration into electronic and

Triptycene-terminated thiolate and selenolate monolayers on Au(111)

• Jinxuan Liu,
• Martin Kind,
• Björn Schüpbach,
• Daniel Käfer,
• Stefanie Winkler,
• Wenhua Zhang,
• Andreas Terfort and
• Christof Wöll

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 892–905, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.91

• positions of their maxima or from their individual intensities. The thicknesses of the molecular films were deduced by applying Equation 1 [34]. Here, the photoelectron escape depths λ of gold and carbon depend on the X-ray source, for Al Kα (1486.6 eV), they amount to λAu4f = 45 Å at a photoelectron

Calculating free energies of organic molecules on insulating substrates

• Julian Gaberle,
• David Z. Gao and
• Alexander L. Shluger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 667–674, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.71

• understanding dynamic processes of organic molecules on insulating substrates. Keywords: entropy; free energy; molecular dynamics; organic molecules; potential of mean force; thermodynamic integration surface step; Introduction In recent years molecular films and self-assembled monolayers have attracted a lot

• are performed on systems at room temperature, where thermal motion and, consequently, entropy cannot be ignored. The balance of molecule–surface and molecule–molecule interactions determines the dynamics and ultimately the growth process for molecular films. This balance can shift as one moves from

Scanning probe microscopy studies on the adsorption of selected molecular dyes on titania

• Jakub S. Prauzner-Bechcicki,
• Lukasz Zajac,
• Piotr Olszowski,
• Res Jöhr,
• Antoine Hinaut,
• Thilo Glatzel,
• Bartosz Such,
• Ernst Meyer and
• Marek Szymonski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1642–1653, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.156

• [45]. These authors, in addition to investigating the growth mode of the FePc overlayers, also analysed their electronic structure in detail. The molecular films grow in a layer-plus-island mode, and in the observed layers, the molecular plane is parallel to the surface [45]. The molecules in the

Investigating organic multilayers by spectroscopic ellipsometry: specific and non-specific interactions of polyhistidine with NTA self-assembled monolayers

• Ilaria Solano,
• Pietro Parisse,
• Ornella Cavalleri,
• Federico Gramazio,
• Loredana Casalis and
• Maurizio Canepa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 544–553, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.48

• spectra bearing information on the small changes of the ellipsometry response upon the thickening or thinning of molecular films with nanoscale thickness, and aims to fully exploit the rich broadband potential of SE, a point which marks the difference with single wavelength techniques, including SPR

Case studies on the formation of chalcogenide self-assembled monolayers on surfaces and dissociative processes

• Yongfeng Tong,
• Tingming Jiang,
• Azzedine Bendounan,
• Makri Nimbegondi Kotresh Harish,
• Angelo Giglia,
• Stefan Kubsky,
• Fausto Sirotti,
• Luca Pasquali,
• Srinivasan Sampath and
• Vladimir A. Esaulov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 263–277, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.24

• be expected from the model of Carro et al.) [88]. An important aspect in XPS analysis is potential radiation damage to molecular films. This was carefully checked and was found not to affect the above conclusions (see original publication [48] for details). In a final twist in this investigation, we

Sub-monolayer film growth of a volatile lanthanide complex on metallic surfaces

• Hironari Isshiki,
• Jinjie Chen,
• Kevin Edelmann and
• Wulf Wulfhekel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2412–2416, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.248

• contamination of the surface. This new rare-earth-based class of molecules broadens the choice of molecular magnets to study with scanning tunneling microscopy. Keywords: β-diketonate; molecular films; scanning tunneling microscopy; terbium; volatile lanthanide complex; Introduction Several carefully designed

• full structure of substrate and film. To investigate the superstructure of the molecular films, we superimposed a schematic model of Cu(111) and Ag(111) lattices on STM topographies of the films with enhanced contrast, as shown in Figure 3a,b. The analysis reveals that the molecular films assemble in a

• nevertheless be represented by using vector s and t (s’ and t’) for the lattice vector of Cu(111) (Ag(111)) as follows: for films on Cu(111) and, for films on Ag(111). The complicated structure of the molecular films is the result of the competition between intermolecular interactions and molecule–substrate

Electrical characterization of single molecule and Langmuir–Blodgett monomolecular films of a pyridine-terminated oligo(phenylene-ethynylene) derivative

• Henrry M. Osorio,
• Santiago Martín,
• María Carmen López,
• Santiago Marqués-González,
• Simon J. Higgins,
• Richard J. Nichols,
• Paul J. Low and
• Pilar Cea

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1145–1157, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.116

• similar molecular films of highly conjugated organic compounds [23][24][30][45][98][99] and for single molecules [15][100][101]. The dlnI/ds value for the LB film is used in conjunction with Equation 2 and an extrapolation to the conductance value corresponding to the point where the gold STM tip contacts

Localized surface plasmon resonances in nanostructures to enhance nonlinear vibrational spectroscopies: towards an astonishing molecular sensitivity

• Dan Lis and
• Francesca Cecchet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2275–2292, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.237

• anti-Stokes Raman line (Figure 1). In the frame of molecular detection at surfaces (i.e., molecular films on solid substrates), IR and Raman spectroscopies have often suffered from a lack of sensitivity due to the reduced number of oscillators in thin films on surfaces compared to bulk materials

Spectroscopic mapping and selective electronic tuning of molecular orbitals in phosphorescent organometallic complexes – a new strategy for OLED materials

• Pascal R. Ewen,
• Jan Sanning,
• Tobias Koch,
• Nikos L. Doltsinis,
• Cristian A. Strassert and
• Daniel Wegner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2248–2258, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.234

• -grown molecular films, we focus on the two Pt complexes C1 and C2 (see Figure 1). STM images of the first monolayer of C1 (Figure 2a,b) and C2 (Figure 2c–f) on Au(111) reveal that the underlying Au(111) herringbone reconstruction is essentially unaffected by the adsorbed layer. This is indicative of an

Purification of ethanol for highly sensitive self-assembly experiments

• Kathrin Barbe,
• Martin Kind,
• Christian Pfeiffer and
• Andreas Terfort

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1254–1260, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.139

• change of thin gold films upon chemisorption of molecular films. For a selected class of compounds, such as alkanethiols, a very good linear correlation between the increase of resistivity and the surface coverage Θ has been established [29][32]. As an initial test, several commercial qualities of

Fullerenes as adhesive layers for mechanical peeling of metallic, molecular and polymer thin films

• Maria B. Wieland,
• Anna G. Slater,
• Barry Mangham,
• Neil R. Champness and
• Peter H. Beton

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 394–401, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.46

• with that of the mica substrate. In a variation of this approach Rogers and co-workers demonstrated that nano- and microstructured semiconductors could not only be removed from a substrate, but also transferred to more technologically relevant surfaces [7][8]. The transfer of molecular films from a

Surface assembly and nanofabrication of 1,1,1-tris(mercaptomethyl)heptadecane on Au(111) studied with time-lapse atomic force microscopy

• Tian Tian,
• Burapol Singhana,
• Lauren E. Englade-Franklin,
• Xianglin Zhai,
• T. Randall Lee and
• Jayne C. Garno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 26–35, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.3

• ; essentially, the well-known dimensions of n-alkanethiol monolayers furnish an in situ ruler for local measurements of the thickness of molecular films [7][34][35][36]. Our protocols for nanografting used either dodecanethiol or TMMH as matrix SAMs that were prepared by immersion in ethanolic solutions. Areas

Self-assembly of octadecyltrichlorosilane: Surface structures formed using different protocols of particle lithography

• ChaMarra K. Saner,
• Kathie L. Lusker,
• Zorabel M. LeJeune,
• Wilson K. Serem and
• Jayne C. Garno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 114–122, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.12

• nanostructures of different materials and molecular films, including metals [14][15], nanoparticles [16][17][18][19], proteins [20][21][22], polymers [23][24][25][26] and SAMs [27][28][29][30][31]. A significant advantage of using organosilanes in comparison to thiolated SAMs is that silane films can be prepared