Orientational Epitaxy of van der Waals Molecular Heterostructures

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Guo L., Wang Y., KAYA D., Palmer R. E., Chen G., Guo Q.

NANO LETTERS, vol.18, no.8, pp.5257-5261, 2018 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 18 Issue: 8
  • Publication Date: 2018
  • Doi Number: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b02238
  • Journal Name: NANO LETTERS
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.5257-5261
  • Keywords: van der Waals heterostructures, epitaxy, self-assembly, fullerene, graphene, interface, scanning tunnelling microscopy, GROWTH, C-60, TRANSITIONS, CRYSTALS, POLYMER, FILMS
  • Çukurova University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The shape of individual building blocks is an important parameter in bottom-up self-assembly of nanostructured materials. A simple shape change from sphere to spheroid can significantly affect the assembly process due to the modification to the orientational degrees of freedom. When a layer of spheres is placed upon a layer of spheroids, the strain at the interface can be minimized by the spheroid taking a special orientation. C-70 fullerenes represent the smallest spheroids, and their interaction with a sphere-like C-g0 is investigated. We find that the orientation of the C-70 within a close-packed C-70 layer can be steered by contacting a layer of C-60. This orientational steering phenomenon is potentially useful for epitaxial growth of multilayer van der Waals molecular heterostructures.