Growth of ordered C₆₀islands on TiO₂(110)

Abstract

Non-contact atomic force microscopy is used to study C(60) molecules deposited on the rutile TiO(2)(110) surface in situ at room temperature. At submonolayer coverages, molecules adsorb preferentially at substrate step edges. Upon increasing coverage, ordered islands grow from the decorated step edges onto the lower terraces. Simultaneous imaging of bridging oxygen rows of the substrate and the C(60) island structure reveals that the C(60) molecules arrange themselves in a centered rectangular superstructure, with the molecules lying centered in the troughs formed by the bridging oxygen rows. Although the TiO(2)(110) surface exhibits a high density of surface defects, the observed C(60) islands are of high order. This indicates that the C(60) intermolecular interaction dominates over the molecule-substrate interactions that may cause structural perturbations on a defective surface. Slightly protruding C(60) strands on the islands are attributed to anti-phase boundaries due to stacking faults resulting from two islands growing together.

Calculating the Entropy Loss on Adsorption of Organic Molecules at Insulating Surfaces

“…[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Adsorption geometries in particular can be investigated using scanning probe methods such as non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM). [25][26][27] However, achieving high resolution in NC-AFM images at room temperature is still a challenge 28 and often the interpretation of images down to an atomistic level requires a detailed understanding of the tip-sample interactions.…”

Adsorption and Self-Assembly of Large Polycyclic Molecules on the Surfaces of TiO2 Single Crystals

“…Identical, well-ordered layers of C60 were also previously investigated using nc-AFM techniques by Loske et al [66,67], who demonstrated the possibility of manipulating molecular islands with an AFM tip [68]. Loske et al demonstrated that the molecules preferentially adsorb at surface steps at low coverages.…”

Molecular Design and Control Over the Morphology of Self‐Assembled Films on Ionic Substrates

“…In order to characterize the produced monolayers (MLs) with molecular resolution we employ noncontact atomic force microscopy (NCAFM) as this provides a nondestructive method to study the delicate structure of molecular layers, which has been successfully applied in the past to image individual molecules, aggregates, and fi lms on insulating surfaces. [ 17,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] However, while a number of supramolecular structures have been observed, [35][36][37]39,40 ] the mechanisms of structure formation are not fully understood. Moreover, studies demonstrating high levels of control over the structure formation on insulators are still rare due to the subtle balance of M-M and M-S interactions.…”