Inducing Intermolecular C-C Covalent Bonds between PAHs by Exposure to Atomic Hydrogen (JACS 2019)
The ESISNA group, in collaboration with the Nanotech@surfaces group from Empa (Switzerland), has demonstrated the catalytic role that atomic hydrogen can play in the formation of new intermolecular C-C covalent bonds on relatively inert surfaces. For this purpose, we have annealed a Au(111) surface, previously covered with different PAHs, in…
Comparative structural characterization of two types of graphene layers on SiC (Appl. Surf. Sci. 2019)
We have studied epitaxial graphene grown on SiC by chemical vapour deposition. In the work, two kinds of graphene layers were evaluated, a single layer graphene and a quasi-free-standing graphene obtained by hydrogen intercalation under the buffer layer. To evaluate the influence of the different nature of both graphene layers…
ESISNA at the «On-Surface Synthesis» international workshop 2018
On-surface synthesis is nowadays a promising and potential strategy for the development of novel nanomaterials. This approach allows not only to achieve materials of different dimensionalities such as 0D nanoobjects, 1D nanowires or even 2D networks for diverse applications but also the possibility to manipulate the molecules at the atomic…
On-surface chemistry: synthesis of azine derivatives with acceptor behaviour (Angew. Chem. 2018)
On-surface chemistry is a potential strategy focused on obtaining and developing novel nanomaterials of different dimensionalities with atomic precision. The growth mechanism is based on a bottom-up approach where molecular building blocks are evaporated onto a surface. Therefore, choosing the appropriate surface and precursor we are able to build and…
The experimental setup to understand how cosmic dust is formed is ready to use (Sci. Rep. 2018)
The Stardust machine constitutes a unique experimental setup designed for simulating in the laboratory cosmic dust formation and its evolution towards the ISM. Stardust consists of six UHV modules assembled together specially designed to mimic the conditions found in the atmosphere of AGBs. We have succeeded to scale-up a…
Decoupling epitaxial graphene from metals by electrochemical oxidation (Carbon 2018)
The catalytic role of metallic substrates is a perfect starting point for growing high quality graphene layers by thermal decomposition of aromatics. However, metallic substrates quench the outstanding properties that make graphene the most promising material for future applications. Thus, protocols to transfer graphene to different technologically relevant substrates are…
An atomic-scale look to graphene edge states (Nanoscale 2017)
Graphene edges are known to present localized electronic states that depend on the exact atomic configuration of the graphene border. It has been predicted that zigzag-ended and chiral-ended graphene nanostructures develop spatially and spectrally localized edge states around the Fermi level. However, experimental evidence remains scarce as atomic-scale investigations of…
On-surface chemistry: (cyclo)dehydrogenation of PAH catalysed by coinage metal surfaces (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2017)
New nanoarchitectures can be built from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) by exploiting the catalytic properties of some metal surfaces. Actually, this bottom-up approach allows the formation of nanostructures with different dimensionality from the same precursor as a consequence of the diffusion of the PAH on the surface. Thus, by selecting…
New method to synthesize graphene by using C60 as carbon source (Carbon 2017)
In this work, we describe a new protocol to grow high-quality graphene by physical vapour deposition (PVD) using C60 molecules evaporated in ultra high vacuum conditions (UHV) on Cu foils substrates. The quality of the resulting graphene layer has been assessed by the combination of complementary surface characterization techniques. Additionally,…
Highly selective covalent organic functionalization of epitaxial graphene (Nat. Commun. 2017)
Recently, we have published a new work in Nature Communications: Highly Selective Covalent Organic Functionalization of Epitaxial Graphene. R. Bueno; José I. Martínez; R. Luccas; N. Ruiz del Árbol; C. Munuera; I. Palacio; F. J. Palomares; S. Thakur; J. M. Baranowski; W. Strupinski; M. F. López; F. Mompean; M. García-Hernández;…