Collaborative Research: The Role of the Substrate Surface State and Molecular Configuration in Porous Honeycomb Networks of Quinones

国家科学基金会数学与物理科学局化学部的分析与表面化学计划将支持马里兰大学的西奥多·L·爱因斯坦、学院公园的西奥多·爱因斯坦和加州大学河滨分校的路德维希·巴特尔斯的研究。这项工作的目标是了解特定的有机分子是如何组装成具有直径为5纳米的开孔的大型规则蜂窝图案的。为了探索这种行为有多普遍，巴特尔斯将在不同的分子和衬底材料上进行实验，并结合爱因斯坦的理论计算，试图从氢键的角度解释短程结构，并从衬底的电子结构角度解释大气孔。在掌握了相互作用机制后，巴特尔斯和爱因斯坦将寻求设计开放气孔的大小，也许还会设计分子网络的模式。这种表面可以用作在表面上生长图案化薄膜的模板，应用范围从存储技术到多相催化。教育的好处包括对研究生和博士后助理进行最先进的技术培训，以在原子尺度上进行成像，并模拟相对较小的能量和微妙的影响决定整体几何形状的系统。这也是物理理论和化学实验之间协同和密切合作的绝佳机会，为参与其中的学生提供高度跨学科的培训。

The Analytical & Surface Chemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry, in the Directorate of Mathematical & Physical Sciences of the National Science Foundation, will support research by Theodore L. Einstein of the University of Maryland, College Park and Ludwig Bartels of the University of California, Riverside. The goal of this work is to understand how particular organic molecules assemble into large regular honeycomb patterns with open pores having diameters of 5 nm. To explore how general this behavior is, Bartels will perform experiments on different molecules and substrate materials in conjunction with theoretical calculations by Einstein that seek to explain the short-range structure in terms of hydrogen bonds and the large pores in terms of the electronic structure of the substrate. With a command of the interaction mechanisms, Bartels and Einstein will seek to engineer the size of open pores and perhaps also the pattern of the molecular networks. Such surfaces can serve as templates for growing patterned films on surfaces for applications ranging from storage technology to heterogeneous catalysis. Educational benefits include the training of graduate students and postdoctoral associates in state-of-the-art techniques for imaging at the atomic scale and for simulating systems in which comparatively small energies and subtle effects determine the overall geometry. It is also an outstanding opportunity for synergistic and close collaboration between physics-based theory and chemistry-based experiment, offering the involved students highly interdisciplinary training.