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…
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…
Surface nano-patterning by ion beam sputtering (IBS) is a bottom-up strategy to produce nanostructures on large areas of a wide range of materials (metals, insulators, semiconductors) in just a few minutes. This technique has been known for many years but its underlying physical mechanisms are still open to discussion. Initially,…
A single molecular magnet (SMM) is a large molecule exhibiting superparamagnetic properties, and therefore it behaves like a magnet. One of the challenges attracting more attention over the last few years has been the development of new techniques that allow their nanostructuration and addressing on surfaces, to promote their potential…