title: Bottom-up graphene-nanoribbon fabrication reveals chiral edges and enantioselectivity.
abstract: We produce precise chiral-edge graphene nanoribbons on Cu{111} using self-assembly and surface-directed chemical reactions. We show that, using specific properties of the substrate, we can change the edge conformation of the nanoribbons, segregate their adsorption chiralities, and restrict their growth directions at low surface coverage. By elucidating the molecular-assembly mechanism, we demonstrate that our method constitutes an alternative bottom-up strategy toward synthesizing defect-free zigzag-edge graphene nanoribbons.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University , Sendai, Miyagi 980-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Kazuto
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akagi
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Federici Canova
authors.forename: Hirotaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mutoh
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shiraki
authors.forename: Katsuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwaya
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Asao
authors.forename: Taro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hitosugi
keywords: bottom-up fabrication; graphene nanoribbons; scanning tunneling microscopy; surface-assisted molecular assembly