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Nature Research, Scientific Reports, 1(3), 2013

DOI: 10.1038/srep02102

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Self-Organized and Cu-Coordinated Surface Linear Polymerization

Journal article published in 2013 by Qing Li, Jonathan R. Owens, Chengbo Han, Bobby G. Sumpter ORCID, Wenchang Lu, Jerzy Bernholc, V. Meunier ORCID, Peter Maksymovych ORCID, Miguel Fuentes-Cabrera ORCID, Minghu Pan
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

We demonstrate a controllable surface-coordinated linear polymerization of long-chain poly(phenylacetylenyl)s that are self-organized into a “circuit-board” pattern on a Cu(100) surface. Scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/S) corroborated by ab initio calculations, reveals the atomistic details of the molecular structure, and provides a clear signature of electronic and vibrational properties of the poly(phenylacetylene)s chains. Notably, the polymerization reaction is confined epitaxially to the copper lattice, despite a large strain along the polymerized chain that subsequently renders it metallic. Polymerization and depolymerization reactions can be controlled locally at the nanoscale by using a charged metal tip. This control demonstrates the possibility of precisely accessing and controlling conjugated chain-growth polymerization at low temperature. This finding may lead to the bottom-up design and realization of sophisticated architectures for molecular nano-devices.