Formation of Oriented Bilayer Motif -- Vanadyl Phthalocyanine on Ag(100)

The adsorption and self-assembly of vanadyl phthalocyanine molecules on Ag(100) has been investigated using a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory. At sub-monolayer coverage, we observe two distinct adsorption configurations of isolated molecules, corresponding...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2024-03
Main Authors: Koll, William, Urdaniz, Corina, Noh, Kyungju, Bae, Yujeong, Wolf, Christoph, Gupta, Jay
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adsorption
Bilayers
Chirality
Density functional theory
Grain boundaries
Monolayers
Multilayers
Scanning tunneling microscopy
Self-assembly
Substrates
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Summary:The adsorption and self-assembly of vanadyl phthalocyanine molecules on Ag(100) has been investigated using a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory. At sub-monolayer coverage, we observe two distinct adsorption configurations of isolated molecules, corresponding to the central O atom pointing toward (O-down) or away (O-up) from the substrate. Upon adsorption in the O-up orientation, the otherwise achiral molecules take on a windmill-like chiral appearance due to their interaction with the substrate. At monolayer coverage, we observe a self-assembled square lattice with a mixture of O-up and O-down molecules. At higher coverage we find a strong preference for bilayer formation with O-up and O-down molecules in alternating layers, suggesting stabilization by dipolar interactions. Close inspection of the multi-layer surface reveals grain boundaries separating domains of opposite organizational chirality, and long-range ordering.
ISSN:2331-8422