title: Direct visualization of the formation of single-molecule conjugated copolymers.
abstract: Electrochemical polymerization of two different kinds of thiophene monomers on an iodine-covered gold surface created highly assembled conjugated copolymers with different electronic structures. A scanning tunneling microscope revealed images of several linkage types: diblock, triblock, and multiblock. The single strand of conjugated copolymers exhibited an anomalous swinging motion on the surface. This technique presents the possibility of understanding the copolymerization process from the different monomers on the single-molecular scale and of building single-molecule superlattices on a surface through controlled electropolymerization.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Hamamatsu 432-8011, Japan. sakaguchi@rie.shizuoka.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakaguchi
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Abdelkarim M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Abouelwafa