Abstract
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.
Highlights
Kagomé Host-Nanoarchitecture.Porous materials and nanoarchitectures are of scientific and technological interest because of their ability to interact with foreign nanospecies throughout specific functional sites located in their internal structure or surface [1–4]
Multicomponent organic nanoarchitectures have been engineered by the formation of guest-host structures, where foreign molecules are trapped inside the cavities of a porous 2D network [29,30]
Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is a powerful tool with submolecular resolution to characterize molecular assembly and probe various dynamic processes appearing during the formation of a guest-host structure
Summary
Porous materials and nanoarchitectures are of scientific and technological interest because of their ability to interact with foreign nanospecies throughout specific functional sites located in their internal structure or surface [1–4]. Research has been devoted to assessing the structure property correlations and interactions between the host-structure and guest-species. In this respect, the construction of organic nanoarchitectures and porous host-structure through molecular self-assembly [5–7] is especially appealing [8–10]. Multicomponent organic nanoarchitectures have been engineered by the formation of guest-host structures, where foreign molecules are trapped inside the cavities of a porous 2D network [29,30]. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is a powerful tool with submolecular resolution to characterize molecular assembly and probe various dynamic processes appearing during the formation of a guest-host structure. Evidence for single-molecule adsorption/desorption events have been identified in sequential STM images [33]
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