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Highly Ordered Molecular Rotor Matrix on a Nanopatterned Template: Titanyl Phthalocyanine Molecules on FeO/Pt(111)

Shuangzan Lu, Min Huang, Zhihui Qin, Yinghui Yu, Qinmin Guo, Gengyu Cao

Nanotechnology. 2018 Aug 3;29(31):315301.

PMID: 29770773

Abstract:

Molecular rotors, motors and gears play important roles in artificial molecular machines, in which rotor and motor matrices are highly desirable for large-scale bottom-up fabrication of molecular machines. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of a highly ordered molecular rotor matrix by depositing nonplanar dipolar titanyl phthalocyanine (TiOPc, C32H16N8OTi) molecules on a Moiré patterned dipolar FeO/Pt(111) substrate. TiOPc molecules with O atoms pointing outwards from the substrate (upward) or towards the substrate (downward) are alternatively adsorbed on the fcc sites by strong lateral confinement. The adsorbed molecules, i.e. two kinds of molecular rotors, show different scanning tunneling microscopy images, thermal stabilities and rotational characteristics. Density functional theory calculations clarify that TiOPc molecules anchoring upwards with high adsorption energies correspond to low-rotational-rate rotors, while those anchoring downwards with low adsorption energies correspond to high-rotational-rate rotors. A robust rotor matrix fully occupied by low-rate rotors is fabricated by depositing molecules on the substrate at elevated temperature. Such a paradigm opens up a promising route to fabricate functional molecular rotor matrices, driven motor matrices and even gear groups on solid substrates.

Chemicals Related in the Paper:

Catalog Number Product Name Structure CAS Number Price
AP26201321 Titanyl phthalocyanine Titanyl phthalocyanine 26201-32-1 Price
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