Speaker
Description
The growth of organic films on metal and oxide surfaces with molecular control is of great interest in many technological applications. N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) are able to form very strong bonds to a surface due to their high electron donor character, making them excellent ligands for the design of stable metal-organic devices, such as biosensors, single-molecule junctions, or photothermal therapy agents to name a few. The deposition and characterization of NHCs on planar, metal surfaces are considered a fundamental step to gain insight into molecule-molecule and molecule-substrate interactions. NHCs have been mainly deposited on gold,$^{1,2}$ while other metals like copper or silver have yet to be extensively studied.$^2$ On non-metal surfaces, only silicon has been explored to date.$^3$
Herein we study a model NHC, 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene (IPr-NHC), on Cu(100), Cu(111) and Cu(111)/CuxO surfaces, combining low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), density functional theory (DFT) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). IPr-NHC molecules form magic number islands on Cu(111), contrasting with the lower degree of order observed on Cu(100).$^4$ On the Cu(111)/CuxO surface, the molecules form a covalent bond with the oxide layer, binding preferentially to oxygen atoms, as predicted by DFT and confirmed by XPS.$^5$
References
1. G. Wang, A. Rühling, S. Amirjalayer, M. Knor, J. B. Ernst, C. Richter, H.-J. Gao, A. Timmer, H.-Y. Gao, N. L. Doltsinis, F. Glorius, H. Fuchs, Nat. Chem. 9, 152-156 (2017).
2. L. Jiang, B. Zhang, G. Médard, A. P. Seitsonen, F. Haag, F. Allegretti, J. Reichert, B. Kuster, J. V. Barth, A. C. Papageorgiou, Chem. Sci. 8, 8301-8308 (2017).
3. M. Franz, S. Chandola, M. Koy, R. Zelinski, H. Aldahhak, M. Das, M. Freitag, U. Gerstmann, D. Liebig, A. K. Hoffmann, M. Rosin, W. G. Schmidt, C. Hogan, F. Glorius, N. Esser, M. Dähne, Nat. Chem. 13, 828-835 (2021).
4. J. J. Navarro, M. Das, S. Tosoni, F. Landwehr, M. Koy, M. Heyde, G. Pacchioni, F. Glorius, B. Roldan Cuenya, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 61, e202202127 (2022).
5. J. J. Navarro, M. Das, S. Tosoni, F. Landwehr, J. P. Bruce, M. Heyde, G. Pacchioni, F. Glorius, B. Roldan Cuenya, J. Am. Chem. Soc (2022).
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c06335
| Abstract Number (department-wise) | ISC 15 |
|---|---|
| Department | ISC (Roldán) |
