Binary molecular networks: Small 1/2010

The frontispiece shows a scanning tunneling microscopy image of a monolayer of copper hexadecafluorophthalocyanine (F16CuPc) and p-sexiphenyl (6P) self-assembling on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. The four-lobe feature represents a F16CuPc molecule and the long rodlike feature represents a single 6P molecule. At 3:1 6P/F16CuPc, the binary molecular network is composed of oblique F16CuPc molecular dot arrays interconnected by 6P triplets, whose corresponding unit cell is noted in the lower right corner of the figure. Various highly ordered nanostructures are obtained by varying the 6P/F16CuPc molecular ratio or replacing 6P with other molecules. For more information, please read the Full Paper “Tunable Two-Dimensional Binary Molecular Networks” by W. Chen, A. T. S. Wee, et al., beginning on page 70.