Templated quasicrystalline molecular layers

ORAL

Abstract

Quasicrystals are materials with long range ordering but no periodicity. We report scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) observations of quasicrystalline molecular layers on five-fold quasicrystal surfaces. The molecules adopt positions and orientations on the surface consistent with the quasicrystalline ordering of the substrate. Carbon-60 adsorbs atop sufficiently-separated Fe atoms on icosahedral Al-Cu-Fe to form a unique quasicrystalline lattice whereas further C$_{60}$ molecules decorate remaining surface Fe atoms in a quasi-degenerate fashion. Pentacene (Pn) adsorbs at tenfold-symmetric points around surface-bisected rhombic triacontahedral clusters in icosahedral Ag-In-Yb. These systems constitute the first demonstrations of quasicrystalline molecular ordering on a template.

*EPSRC EP/D05253X/1, EP/D071828/1, UK BIS

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Authors

  • Joe Smerdon

    • Jeremiah Horrocks Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy, University of Central Lancashire, UK

  • Kirsty Young

    • Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, UK

  • Michael Lowe

    • Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, UK

  • Sanger Hars

    • Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, UK

  • Thakur Yadav

    • Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, UK

  • David Hesp

    • Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, UK

  • Vinod Dhanak

    • Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, UK

  • An-Pang Tsai

    • Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

  • Hem Raj Sharma

    • Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, UK

  • Ronan McGrath

    • Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, UK