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…
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…
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…
Recently, we have published a new work in a special issue of the Surface Science journal in Honour of Richard Lambert. “Adsorption and coupling of 4-aminophenol on Pt(111) surfaces” Surf. Sci. 646 (2016) 5-12 by G. Otero-Irurueta, J.I. Martínez, R.A. Bueno, F.J. Palomares, H.J. Salavagione, M.K. Singh, J. Méndez, G.J.…
Graphene growth on metal surfaces is one of the most promising routes towards scalable production of high-quality graphene suitable for industrial applications. Conventionally, the growth of graphene is carried out on weakly interacting surfaces – typically Cu foils – where the substrate plays a double role: first, as a catalyst;…
Here, we present experimental and theoretical evidence of a new reversible transition that takes place in Sn/Si(111):B. The system changes from an insulating (2 √ 3 × 2 √ 3)R30º structure at room temperature to a (√ 3 × √ 3)R30º symmetry above 520 K (2 √ 3 and √…
One of the most extended approaches in order to growth metal-organic nanostructures on surfaces consists in recombine small organic molecules with a carefully controlled quantity of metallic atoms on a surface. As an example, our group followed this strategy in previous works for obtaining a rich variety of nanostructures by…
Due to its exceptional conduction properties, graphene has been proposed as a candidate to replace silicon in future electronics. However, several problems need to be overcome prior to its implantation in the production chain. Among these difficulties, one of the most fundamental unknown aspects is how to contact graphene with…
The use of appropriately functionalized molecular building blocks to form novel nano-architectures with tailored structure and electronic properties has recently been brought under the spotlight. Recently, the ESISNA group has developed an effective way of exploiting on-surface chemistry to grow different nanostructures in sequential steps from the same molecular precursor. We have used different activation temperatures to…
Despite their abundance and ubiquity in space, the origin of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is still a mystery for astronomers. Gas phase chemistry models, this is, simple collisions between C atoms and C-containing molecules, and soot formation mechanisms can not easily account for the observed amount of PAHs, as they…