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Coupling between diffusion and orientation of pentacene molecules on an organic surface

Nature Materials volume 15, pages 397–400 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

The realization of efficient organic electronic devices requires the controlled preparation of molecular thin films and heterostructures. As top-down structuring methods such as lithography cannot be applied to van der Waals bound materials1, surface diffusion becomes a structure-determining factor that requires microscopic understanding. Scanning probe techniques provide atomic resolution, but are limited to observations of slow movements, and therefore constrained to low temperatures. In contrast, the helium-3 spin-echo (HeSE) technique achieves spatial and time resolution on the nm and ps scale, respectively, thus enabling measurements at elevated temperatures2. Here we use HeSE to unveil the intricate motion of pentacene admolecules diffusing on a chemisorbed monolayer of pentacene on Cu(110) that serves as a stable, well-ordered organic model surface3. We find that pentacene moves along rails parallel and perpendicular to the surface molecules. The experimental data are explained by admolecule rotation that enables a switching between diffusion directions, which extends our molecular level understanding of diffusion in complex organic systems.

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Figure 1: Measurement principle of helium-3 spin-echo (HeSE).
Figure 2: Dependence of dephasing rate, α, on azimuthal direction and momentum transfer, ΔK.
Figure 3: Simulations reveal the elementary processes that combine to an apparent long jump.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from the EPSRC (EP/E0049621, B.A.J.L., D.J.W., D.M.C., A.P.J., J.E., W.A.), the Austrian Academy of Sciences (B.A.J.L.), the Royal Society (A.P.J.), the E.U. ERASMUS programme (A.M.) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (GRK 1782, P.R.). Underlying data are available at the University of Cambridge Research data repository (https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk).

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  1. Barbara A. J. Lechner

    Present address: Present address: Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fachbereich Physik, Philipps-Universität Marburg, 35032 Marburg, Germany

    Paul Rotter, Antonia Morherr, Bruno Eckhardt & Gregor Witte

  2. Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK

    Barbara A. J. Lechner, David M. Chisnall, David J. Ward, Andrew P. Jardine, John Ellis & William Allison

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Contributions

G.W. initiated the project. G.W., W.A. and A.P.J. planned the experiment. A.M., B.A.J.L., D.M.C. and D.J.W. performed the HeSE measurements. A.M., P.R., B.A.J.L. and J.E. analysed the data. P.R. ran the simulations. P.R. and B.E. developed the model. P.R., G.W., B.A.J.L. and B.E. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Gregor Witte.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Rotter, P., Lechner, B., Morherr, A. et al. Coupling between diffusion and orientation of pentacene molecules on an organic surface. Nature Mater 15, 397–400 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4575

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