title: Formation of Ordered Coronene Clusters in Template Utilizing the Structural Transformation of Hexaphenylbenzene Derivative Networks on Graphite Surface.
abstract: In the present work, we report the fabrication of regular coronene (COR) clusters on surfaces in ambient conditions in the two-dimensional network formed by hexaphenylbenzene derivatives (HPB) via structural transformation. HPB could form a stable snowflake network structure on the highly oriented pyrolytic graphite surface at the air-solid interface. When COR molecules were introduced into the system, the HPB snowflake network could transform to honeycomb structures, and the COR heptamers were subsequently aggregated and entrapped into the cavity. Scanning tunneling microscopic was employed to monitor the assembly behavior of both HPB and HPB/COR at a submolecule scale level, and density functional theory calculations were utilized to reveal that the structural transformation and the entrapment are the energetically favorable. The pores formed from HPB might also give a clue to immobilizing some functional molecule clusters, like COR, to fabricate their ordered monolayer in ambient conditions, so as to obtain complex supramolecular surface structures.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) , Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Shaoqing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Runcong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Recognition and Function, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Liancheng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) , Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Recognition and Function, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Qiyu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) , Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Qingdao
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zeng
keywords: HPB network; coronene cluster; guest inclusion; scanning tunneling microscopy; structural transformation