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Thermally‐activated post‐growth dewetting of fullerene C 60 on mica
Author(s) -
Bommel Sebastian,
Spranger Holger,
Weber C.,
Kleppmann N.,
Roth Stephan V.,
Klapp S. H. L.,
Kowarik Stefan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
physica status solidi (rrl) – rapid research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.786
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1862-6270
pISSN - 1862-6254
DOI - 10.1002/pssr.201510258
Subject(s) - dewetting , mica , kinetics , materials science , nanotechnology , chemical physics , fullerene , diffusion , layer (electronics) , surface diffusion , chemical engineering , chemistry , thin film , adsorption , composite material , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
Understanding and controlling the growth and stability of molecular thin films on solid surfaces is necessary to develop nanomaterials with well‐defined physical properties. As a prominent model system in organic electronics, we investigate the post‐growth dewetting kinetics of the fullerene C 60 on mica with real‐time and in situ X‐ray scattering. After layer‐by‐layer growth of C 60 , we find a thermally‐activated post‐growth dewetting, where the smooth C 60 ‐layer breaks up into islands. This clearly shows that growth is kinetically limited before the system moves over an activation barrier into an energetically favored configuration. From the temperature‐dependent dewetting kinetics we find an effective activation barrier of 0.33 eV, which describes both the temperature‐dependent macroscopic changes in the surface morphology and the microscopic processes of inter‐ and intralayer diffusion during dewetting.(© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)