文摘
The graphene Moir茅 superstructure offers a complex landscape of humps and valleys to molecules adsorbing and diffusing on it. Using C60 molecules as the classic hard sphere analogue, we examine its assembly and layered growth on this corrugated landscape. At the monolayer level, the cohesive interactions of C60 molecules adsorbing on the Moir茅 lattice freeze the molecular rotation of C60 trapped in the valley sites, resulting in molecular alignment of all similarly trapped C60 molecules at room temperature. The hierarchy of adsorption potential well on the Moir茅 lattice causes diffusion-limited dendritic growth of C60 films, as opposed to isotropic growth observed on a smooth surface like graphite. Due to the strong binding energy of the C60 film, part of the dentritic C60 films polymerize at 850 K and act as solid carbon sources for graphene homoepitaxy. Our findings point to the possibility of using periodically corrugated graphene in molecular spintronics due to its ability to trap and align organic molecules at room temperature.
Keywords:
molecular assemblies; graphene Moir茅 template; potential well; C60 molecular array; homoepitaxy of graphene