A Trapezoidal Octacyanoquinoid Acceptor Forms Solution and Surface Products by Antiparallel Shape Fitting with Conformational Dipole Momentum Switch (ANGEW. CHEM. 2021)
A new compound (1) formed by two antiparallelly disposed tetracyano thienoquinoidal units has been synthesized and studied by electrochemistry, UV/Vis-NIR, IR, EPR, and transient spectroscopy. Self-assembly of 1 on a Au(111) surface has been investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy. Experiments have been rationalized by quantum chemical calculations. 1 exhibits a…
INTERACTION OF ATOMIC SILICON AND MOLECULAR HYDROGEN IN THE ENVELOPE OF EVOLVED STARS (ASTROPHYS. J. 2021)
In the atmosphere of carbon-rich (C-rich) asymptotic giant branch stars (AGBs), silicon chemistry plays an important role as is revealed by the detection of silane (SiH4) and organosilicon compounds such as methyl silane (CH3SiH3) and sylil cyanide (SiH3CN). To deepen the understanding on the formation of silicon bearing molecules in…
INFRA-ICE: SIMULATING THE COSMIC DUST-ICE INTERACTION IN THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM (REV. SCI. INSTRUM. 2020)
The last module of Stardust, INFRA-ICE, is ready! This module is dedicated to simulate the chemistry taking place in the densest regions of the interstellar medium, the so-called dense molecular clouds. As such, INFRA-ICE expands the capabilities of Stardust allowing for the complete journey of cosmic dust to be…
Surfaces open new routes: unexpected formation of m-PANI oligomers from p-aminophenol (ANGEW. CHEM. 2020)
Surfaces never fail to surprise. Once more, they have demonstrated that chemistry on 2D metallic surfaces behaves differently to that on solution (3D). We have shown that highly unspecific solution-based Michael addition transforms into highly selective when carried out on a Pt(111) surface. In this way, we are able to…
Surface symmetry and reactivity rule the room-temperature adsorption of p-aminophenol (J. Phys. Chem. C 2020)
Molecular chemisorption on metal surfaces has attracted great interest over the past decades. Both the characteristics of the adsorbed molecules and the surface properties govern the chemisorption processes. We have studied the role of the nature and symmetry of different metallic surfaces, Cu(110), Cu(111) and Pt(111), on the room-temperature adsorption…
Decoupling of PVD graphene by controlled oxygen intercalation (App. Surf. Sci. 2020)
In the last decade after graphene isolation in 2004, many methods have been developed for the synthesis of this material. The most used substrates have been metal surfaces, due to their catalytic action, which is helpful for the formation of graphene. However, the coupling of the graphene layer with the…
The interaction of atomic carbon and acetylene investigated with STARDUST (Astrophys. J. 2020)
Background image: Spiral structure around the red giant star R Sculptoris. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. Maercker et al. The formation of interstellar carbon dust in dying stars is still not fully understood. In particular, the interaction of atomic carbon with the most abundant chemical species in the atmosphere of red…
Unconventional science by unconventional people
Time flies. Nearly 20 years have passed since Javier Mendez, Pedro de Andrés, Paqui López and myself decided to apply jointly to the national plan projects and to share all resources and instrumentation, setting the bases of our research group. In this period, our lab consisted of an inherited UHV…
First results of astrophysical relevance obtained with the Stardust (Nat. Astron. 2020)
The first results of astrophysical relevance obtained with the Stardust machine evidence a prevalence of non-aromatic species in the inner regions of circumstellar envelopes Image taken from https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/ciencia/fisica/un-viaje-a-la-ultima-frontera-i-las-atmosferas-de-las-estrellas/ This work is part of the results obtained in the framework of the European project ERC…
From the kitchen to the lab (2D Materials 2019)
We have developed a simple method to reversibly decouple the graphene form a metal substrate by Na intercalation. This strategy is based on the photo-dissociation of a previously adsorbed NaCl layer on graphene. Upon a short exposure to an X-Ray beam, the NaCl molecules break, the chlorine desorbs and the…