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物理科学理事会化学部的分析表面化学计划将支持西奥多L。马里兰州大学帕克分校的爱因斯坦和滨江加州大学的路德维希·巴特尔斯。 这项工作的目标是了解特定的有机分子如何组装成具有直径为5 nm的开孔的大的规则蜂窝图案。 为了探索这种行为的普遍性，Bartels将对不同的分子和基底材料进行实验，并结合爱因斯坦的理论计算，试图解释氢键方面的短程结构和基底电子结构方面的大孔。 有了相互作用机制的指令，巴特尔斯和爱因斯坦将寻求设计开孔的大小，也许还有分子网络的模式。 这样的表面可以作为模板，用于在从存储技术到多相催化的应用的表面上生长图案化的膜。 教育方面的好处包括培训研究生和博士后研究员掌握原子尺度成像和模拟系统的最新技术，在这些系统中，相对较小的能量和微妙的影响决定了整体几何形状。 这也是一个基于物理的理论和基于化学的实验之间协同和密切合作的绝佳机会，为参与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.