Fast, Atomic-Scale Investigation of Assembly and Reaction at Surfaces

新技术的发展关键取决于以新的和令人兴奋的方式控制材料特性的能力。小型化和高效化的现代趋势，以及（例如）对清洁能源和高效能源存储的新兴社会需求，揭示了对新材料的需求，这些新材料可以使下一代技术具有更高的性能。对于这种对小型设备的需求，一个有希望的解决方案是转向“自下而上”的观点，将分子构建块组装成功能纳米结构材料。这种方法的一个显著优点是，可以获得的最小特征大小主要取决于构建块的大小。推进这些自下而上的方法需要对驱动分子组分组织的相互作用有更好的理解，这属于超分子化学和最近的“表面反应”领域。***扫描隧道显微镜（STM）可以获得吸附在导电表面的单个分子的图像，使其成为研究分子组织和反应的宝贵工具。结合STM和其他表面分析工具，NanoFemtoLab已经获得了分子相互作用和表面反应的基本见解，特别是最近合成的二维共轭聚合物，也被称为“石墨烯的有机类似物”，具有破纪录的有序和结构域大小。为了扩展这一前沿研究，我们建议通过组合多个构建块来定制这些有序的二维聚合物的电子特性。同时，为了将这项工作推向应用，我们正在研究将这些聚合物转移到半导体中，使其能够融入电子设备。***该提案的动机是获得关键设备，使我们能够对二维聚合物的结构/性质关系进行系统的研究。首先，为了执行这些时间敏感的项目，我们迫切需要更换15年历史的STM的失效组件，这是我们研究基础设施的关键部分。除了这一关键的修复之外，我们还寻求升级该系统以执行“Video-STM”（高达100 Hz），这在加拿大是独一无二的，它将能够研究表面的快速过程，如扩散、自组装和反应，具有STM的特殊空间分辨率。具体来说，我们建议通过在整个反应过程中对前体、中间体和产物进行成像来研究表面聚合的动力学。**

The development of new technologies depends critically on the ability to control materials properties in new and exciting ways. Modern trends towards miniaturization and efficiency, as well as (for example) emerging societal demands for clean energy and efficient energy storage, have revealed the need for new materials that can enable next-generation technologies with improved performance. A promising solution to this demand for smaller devices is to shift to a “bottom-up” perspective, where molecular building blocks are assembled into functional nanostructured materials. A significant advantage of this approach is that the smallest feature size that can be obtained depends mainly on the size of the building blocks. Advancing these bottom-up methods requires an improved understanding of the interactions driving the organization of the molecular components, which falls within the field of supramolecular chemistry and more recently, “on-surface reactions”. ***The scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) can acquire images of individual molecules adsorbed on a conducting surface, making it an invaluable tool to investigate molecular organization and reaction. Combining STM with other surface analysis tools, the NanoFemtoLab has obtained essential insights into molecular interactions and on-surface reactions, and in particular recently synthesized 2D conjugated polymers, also termed “organic analogues of graphene”, of record-breaking order and domain size. To extend this cutting-edge research, we propose to tailor the electronic properties of these well-ordered 2D polymers by combining multiple building blocks. In parallel, to move this work towards application, we are studying the transfer of these polymers to semiconductors to enable their incorporation in electronic devices. ***The motivation for this proposal is to acquire key equipment that will allow us to undertake a systematic investigation of structure/property relationships in 2D polymers. First of all, to carry out these time-sensitive projects, we urgently require a replacement for failed components of a fifteen year old STM that is a crucial part of our research infrastructure. In addition to this crucial repair, we seek to upgrade this system to perform “Video-STM” (up to 100 Hz), unique in Canada, that would be capable of studying rapid processes at surfaces such as diffusion, self-assembly and reactions with the exceptional spatial resolution of STM. Specifically, we propose to investigate the dynamics of surface-polymerization by imaging the precursors, intermediates and products throughout the reaction. **