Heterotriangulene-based covalent networks on noble metal surfaces studied through STM and TOF-SIMS

Two dimensional covalent organic frameworks can be synthesized on noble metal surfaces using the Ullmann coupling reaction. The growth of the network can be controlled by careful design of the molecular precursors and other factors such as the presence of a controlled amount of atomic hydrogen[1,2]. We study the surface synthesis of triphenylamine-based organic networks on Ag(111) and Au(111) surfaces grown under different conditions using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy/Spectroscopy (STM/STS) and Time-of-flight Secondary Ion Mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS) to analyze the on-surface reaction products. We also study the electronic properties of these materials by comparing STS to both first-principles and semi-empirical calculations.

[1] Zuzak et al. ACS Nano, 14(10) 13316 (2020)

[2] Enderson et al., Probing the evolution of electronic structure from a triarylamine monomer to a 2D conjugated covalent organic framework, through on-surface synthesis, Submitted