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C–H bond activation and dehydrogenative coupling reactions have always been significant approaches to construct microscopic nanostructures on surfaces. By using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) and non-contact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM)...

Doped graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with heteroatoms are a principal strategy to fine-tune the electronic structures of GNRs for future device applications. Here, we successfully synthesized the N = 9 nitrogen-doped armchair GNR on the Au(111) surface. Due to the flexibility of precursor molecules, three different covalent bonds (CÀ C, CÀ N, NÀ N) are formed in the GNR backbone. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy analysis together with band structure calculations reveals that the band gap of the N-9-AGNRs (CÀ C) will be enlarged compared to pristine 9-AGNRs, and the CÀ N bond and NÀ N bond at the isolated site of N-9-AGNR (CÀ C) will introduce new defect states near the Fermi level. DFT calculations reveal that the electronic structure of N-9-AGNR (CÀ C) shows semiconductor character, while N-9-AGNR (CÀ N) and N-9-AGNR (NÀ N) display metallic character. Our results provide a promising route for creating more complex molecular heterostructures with tunable band gaps, which may be useful for future molecular electronics and memory device applications.

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