On-surface synthesis of Ni-porphyrin-doped graphene nanoribbons

Journal article

On-surface synthesis of functional molecular structures provides a route to the fabrication of materials tailored to exhibit bespoke catalytic, (opto)electronic, and magnetic properties. The fabrication of graphene nanoribbons via on-surface synthesis, where reactive precursor molecules are combined to form extended polymeric structures, provides quasi-1D graphitic wires that can be doped by tuning the properties/composition of the precursor molecules. Here, we combine the atomic precision of solution-phase synthetic chemistry with on-surface protocols to enable reaction steps that cannot yet be achieved in solution. Our focus of this work is the inclusion of porphyrin species within graphene nanoribbons to create porphyrin-fused graphene nanoribbons. A combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and photoelectron spectroscopy techniques is used to characterize a porphyrin-fused graphene nanoribbon formed on-surface from a linear polymer consisting of regularly spaced Ni-porphyrin units linked by sections of aryl rings which fuse together during the reaction to form graphitic regions between neighboring Ni-porphyrin units.

Authors: Edmondson, M; Clarke, M; O'Shea, JN; Chen, Q; Anderson, HL

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Journal: ACS Nano
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 49
• Pages: 33390-33397
• Place of publication: United States
• Publication date: 2024-11-25
• Acceptance date: 2024-11-06
• DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.4c09188
• EISSN: 1936-086X
• ISSN: 1936-0851
• Pmid: 39586584
• Language: English
• Keywords: scanning probe microscopy (SPM); polymer; graphene nanoribbons; on-surface synthesis; photoelectron spectroscopy; porphryin; electrospray deposition