Building block 3D printing based on molecular self-assembly monolayer with self-healing properties.

The spontaneous formation of biological substances, such as human organs, are governed by different stimuli driven by complex 3D self-organization protocols at the molecular level. The fundamentals of such molecular self-assembly processes are critical for fabrication of advanced technological components in nature. We propose and experimentally demonstrate a promising 3D printing method with self-healing property based on molecular self-assembly-monolayer principles, which is conceptually different than the existing 3D printing protocols.

An estimation on the mechanical stabilities of SAMs by low energy Ar cluster ion collision.

The stability of the molecular self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) is of vital importance to the performance of the molecular electronics and their integration to the future electronics devices. Here we study the effect of electron irradiation-induced cross-linking on the stability of self-assembled monolayer of aromatic 5,5'-bis(mercaptomethyl)-2,2'-bipyridine [BPD; HS-CH-(CHN)-CH-SH] on Au (111) single crystal surface. As a refence, we also study the properties of SAMs of electron saturated 1-dodecanethiol [C12; CH-(CH)-SH] molecules.

Phase transition and thermal stability of epitaxial PtSe nanolayer on Pt(111).

This work relates to direct synthesis of the two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalchogenide (TMD) PtSe using an original method based on chemical deposition during immersion of a Pt(111) surface into aqueous NaSe solution. Annealing of the sample induces significant modifications in the structural and electronic properties of the resulting PtSe film. We report systematic investigations of temperature dependent phase transitions by combining synchrotron based high-resolution X-ray photoemission (XPS), low temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy (LT-STM) and low energy electron diffraction (LEED).

Bottom-up fabrication of the multi-layer carbon metal nanosheets.

Ordered carbon composite materials have great potential for practical applications in many areas such as energy conversion, quantum computing, biotechnologies, and electronics. In this work, we demonstrate a state-of-the-art self-assembly driven building block approach to create new layered carbon-metal composite materials with advanced properties. We fabricate molecular nanocomposites using self-assembled metal intercalated multi-layers of dithiol derivatives.

Unoccupied Interface and Molecular States in Thiol and Dithiol Monolayers.

The electronic structure of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) formed by thiols of different lengths and dithiol molecules bound to Au(111) has been characterized. Inverse photoemission spectroscopy (IPES) and density functional theory have been used to describe the molecule/Au substrate system. All molecular layers display a clear signal in the IPES data at the edge of the lowest unoccupied system orbital (LUSO), roughly 3 eV above the Fermi level.