Nanopatterning by Molecular Self-assembly on Surfaces
Thomas R. Eaton,
David Muñoz Torres,
Manfred Buck,
Marcel Mayor
Affiliations
Thomas R. Eaton
Department of Chemistry University of Basel St. Johanns-Ring 19 CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland. [email protected]
David Muñoz Torres
Department of Chemistry University of Basel St. Johanns-Ring 19 CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland
Manfred Buck
EaStCHEM School of Chemistry University of St. Andrews St. Andrews KY16 9ST, UK
Marcel Mayor
Department of Chemistry University of Basel St. Johanns-Ring 19 CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Institute of Nanotechnology P.O. Box 3640 D-76021 Karlsruhe, Switzerland. [email protected]
The ability to pattern surfaces down to the nanoscale is of increasing importance in nanoscience research. The use of supramolecular chemistry to drive the formation of self-assembled networks allows for a bottom-up approach to achieve nanopatterned surfaces. This short review highlights some of the recent breakthroughs in achieving long-range order in such molecular based systems, complemented with examples from our own work. The tuning of molecular architectures can exert control on the emergent properties and function of molecules at interfaces. In particular the formation of porous honeycomb networks allows the rational design of highly ordered patterned surface domains and the investigation of molecular dynamics, chirality and templating effects on surfaces.
