Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012, 13(6), 6836-6848; doi:10.3390/ijms13066836
Article

Polymorphism in Self-Assembled Structures of 9-Anthracene Carboxylic Acid on Ag(111)

Chao Lu 1 email, Yinying Wei 2 email, Erkuang Zhu 1 email, Janice E. Reutt-Robey 2 email and Bo Xu 1,* email
1 State Key Laboratory of Metastable Material Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, Hebei, China 2 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 2 May 2012; in revised form: 23 May 2012 / Accepted: 29 May 2012 / Published: 5 June 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Self-Assembled Soft Matter Nanostructures at Interfaces)
PDF Full-text Download PDF Full-Text [563 KB, uploaded 5 June 2012 10:52 CEST]
Abstract: Surface self-assembly process of 9-anthracene carboxylic acid (AnCA) on Ag(111) was investigated using STM. Depending on the molecular surface density, four spontaneously formed and one annealed AnCA ordered phases were observed, namely a straight belt phase, a zigzag double-belt phase, two simpler dimer phases, and a kagome phase. The two high-density belt phases possess large unit cells on the scale length of 10 nm, which are seldom observed in molecular self-assembled structures. This structural diversity stems from a complicated competition of different interactions of AnCA molecules on metal surface, including intermolecular and molecular-substrate interactions, as well as the steric demand from high molecular surface density.
Keywords: self-assembly; nanostructures; polymorphism; scanning tunneling microscopy

Supplementary Files

Article Statistics

Click here to load and display the download statistics.

Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Lu, C.; Wei, Y.; Zhu, E.; Reutt-Robey, J.E.; Xu, B. Polymorphism in Self-Assembled Structures of 9-Anthracene Carboxylic Acid on Ag(111). Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012, 13, 6836-6848.

AMA Style

Lu C, Wei Y, Zhu E, Reutt-Robey JE, Xu B. Polymorphism in Self-Assembled Structures of 9-Anthracene Carboxylic Acid on Ag(111). International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2012; 13(6):6836-6848.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lu, Chao; Wei, Yinying; Zhu, Erkuang; Reutt-Robey, Janice E.; Xu, Bo. 2012. "Polymorphism in Self-Assembled Structures of 9-Anthracene Carboxylic Acid on Ag(111)." Int. J. Mol. Sci. 13, no. 6: 6836-6848.

Int. J. Mol. Sci. EISSN 1422-0067 Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland RSS E-Mail Table of Contents Alert