Coronene and phthalocyanine trapping efficiency of a two-dimensional Kagomé host-nanoarchitecture

Yi Wang (1) , Xinrui Miao (1) , Wenli Deng (1) , Romain Brisse (2) , Bruno Jousselme (2) , Fabien Silly (3)

1 School of Materials Science and Engineering
2 LICSEN - Laboratoire Innovation en Chimie des Surfaces et NanoSciences
3 LEPO - Laboratoire d'Electronique et nanoPhotonique Organique

The trapping of coronene and zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) molecules at low concentration by a two-dimensional self-assembled nanoarchitecture of a push–pull dye is investigated using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) at the liquid–solid interface. The push–pull molecules adopt an L-shaped conformation and self-assemble on a graphite surface into a hydrogen-bonded Kagomé network with porous hexagonal cavities. This porous host-structure is used to trap coronene and ZnPc guest molecules. STM images reveal that only 11% of the Kagomé network cavities are filled with coronene molecules. In addition, these guest molecules are not locked in the host-network and are desorbing from the surface. In contrast, STM results reveal that the occupancy of the Kagomé cavities by ZnPc evolves linearly with time until 95% are occupied and that the host structure cavities are all occupied after few hours.

Keywords: Molecular self-assembly; Guest-host structures; 2D material; Scanning tunneling microscopy; Intermolecular interactions; Hydrogen bonds

Domains: Material chemistry

Yi Wang, Xinrui Miao, Wenli Deng, Romain Brisse, Bruno Jousselme, et al.. Coronene and phthalocyanine trapping efficiency of a two-dimensional Kagomé host-nanoarchitecture. Nanomaterials, inPress, 12 (5), pp.775. ⟨10.3390/nano12050775⟩. ⟨cea-03592170⟩