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Template-Assisted Assembly: Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Study of Solvent-Dependent Adlattices of Alkyl-Derivatized Tetrathiafulvalene
Author(s) -
ShernLong Lee,
YiChen Chu,
HungJen Wu,
Chunhsien Chen
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
langmuir
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.042
H-Index - 333
eISSN - 1520-5827
pISSN - 0743-7463
DOI - 10.1021/la203148h
Subject(s) - scanning tunneling microscope , solvent , adsorption , chemistry , alkyl , substrate (aquarium) , tetrathiafulvalene , toluene , self assembly , graphite , solvent effects , crystallography , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , molecule , nanotechnology , materials science , oceanography , geology , engineering
The self-assembly of an adsorbate as a function of the strength of solvent-substrate adsorption is an important yet relatively unexplored subject. In this study, how the strength of solvent-substrate adsorption and solvent-solvent attraction affects the assembly of tetrakis(octadecylthio)tetrathiafulvalene (1) is scrutinized by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). For solvents with strong intermolecular interactions and adsorption onto graphite, such as long n-alkanes (C(n)H(2n+2), n ≥ 13), STM reveals that the solvent molecules form lamellae which become a template to direct the assembly of 1 into one-dimensional arrays. The lengths of one of the unit cell vectors for the assemblies are increased and well correlated with the solvent sizes. In situ STM monitoring of 1 introduced onto graphite with preadsorbed n-tetradecane adlattices shows that the developed assemblies of 1 have striped features aligned parallel to the underlying template. In contrast, for solvents with weak adsorption, such as short n-alkanes (C(n)H(2n+2), n ≤ 12), toluene, and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, the adlattice structures of 1 are solvent-independent.

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