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Two-dimensional polymer knits together and unravels in an electric field

The tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope has been used to convert a molecular assembly into a 2D polymer and back, at room temperature — revealing how extreme environmental conditions can alter the progress of reactions.
  1. Markus Lackinger

    1. Markus Lackinger is at the Deutsches Museum, 80538 Munich, Germany, and at the Technical University of Munich.

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The development of methods for polymerizing organic molecules on surfaces opens up fresh approaches for fabricating exceptionally robust two-dimensional materials1, including 2D forms of materials known as covalent organic frameworks (COFs). Writing in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Cai et al.2 report the reversible formation of a single 2D layer of a COF on a graphite surface underneath the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM). The reaction occurs at room temperature, which is remarkably low for this type of transformation. The authors attribute their unexpected room-temperature polymerization to the large, highly localized electric field generated when a voltage is applied between the STM tip and the surface.

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Nature 572, 448-449 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02452-4

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