I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
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Qi
Wang
,
Jiacheng
Yang
,
Antoni
Franco-Canellas
,
Christoph
Buerker
,
Jens
Niederhausen
,
Pierre
Dombrowski
,
Felix
Widdascheck
,
Tobias
Breuer
,
Gregor
Witte
,
Alexander
Gerlach
,
Steffen
Duhm
,
Frank
Schreiber
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[18860]
Open Access
Abstract: As crucial element in organic opto-electronic devices, heterostructures are of pivotal importance. In this context, a comprehensive study of the properties on a simplified model system of a donor–acceptor (D–A) bilayer structure is presented, using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and normal-incidence X-ray standing wave (NIXSW) measurements. Pentacene (PEN) as donor and perfluoropentacene (PFP) as acceptor material are chosen to produce bilayer structures on Au(111) and Cu(111) by sequential monolayer deposition of the two materials. By comparing the adsorption behavior of PEN/PFP bilayers on such weakly and strongly interacting substrates, it is found that: (i) the adsorption distance of the first layer (PEN or PFP) indicates physisorption on Au(111), (ii) the characteristics of the bilayer structure on Au(111) are (almost) independent of the deposition sequence, and hence, (iii) in both cases a mixed bilayer is formed on the Au substrate. This is in striking contrast to PFP/PEN bilayers on Cu(111), where strong chemisorption pins PEN molecules to the metal surface and no intermixing is induced by subsequent PFP deposition. The results illustrate the strong tendency of PEN and PFP molecules to mix, which has important implications for the fabrication of PEN/PFP heterojunctions.
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Mar 2021
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I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[13740]
Open Access
Abstract: We studied the structural and electronic properties of 2,3,9,10-tetrafluoropentacene (F4PEN) on Ag(111) via X-ray standing waves (XSW), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) as well as ultraviolet and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS and XPS). XSW revealed that the adsorption distances of F4PEN in (sub)monolayers on Ag(111) were 3.00 Å for carbon atoms and 3.05 Å for fluorine atoms. The F4PEN monolayer was essentially lying on Ag(111), and multilayers adopted π-stacking. Our study shed light not only on the F4PEN–Ag(111) interface but also on the fundamental adsorption behavior of fluorinated pentacene derivatives on metals in the context of interface energetics and growth mode.
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Sep 2020
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I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
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Abstract: We review the binding and energy level alignment of π-conjugated systems on metals, a field which during the last two decades has seen tremendous progress both in terms of experimental characterization as well as in the depth of theoretical understanding. Precise measurements of vertical adsorption distances and the electronic structure together with ab-initio calculations have shown that most of the molecular systems have to be considered as intermediate cases between weak physisorption and strong chemisorption. In this regime, the subtle interplay of different effects such as covalent bonding, charge transfer, electrostatic and van der Waals interactions yields a complex situation with different adsorption mechanisms. In order to establish a better understanding of the binding and the electronic level alignment of π-conjugated molecules on metals, we provide an up-to-date overview of the literature, explain the fundamental concepts as well as the experimental techniques and discuss typical case studies. Thereby, we relate the geometric with the electronic structure in a consistent picture and cover the entire range from weak to strong coupling.
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Feb 2020
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I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
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Jens
Niederhausen
,
Antoni
Franco-Cañellas
,
Simon
Erker
,
Thorsten
Schultz
,
Katharina
Broch
,
Alexander
Hinderhofer
,
Steffen
Duhm
,
Pardeep K.
Thakur
,
David A.
Duncan
,
Alexander
Gerlach
,
Tien-Lin
Lee
,
Oliver T.
Hofmann
,
Frank
Schreiber
,
Norbert
Koch
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[11415, 13740, 19033]
Open Access
Abstract: The vertical adsorption distances of the planar conjugated organic molecule 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI) on hydroxylated ZnO(0001), determined with the x-ray standing wave technique (XSW), are at variance with adsorption geometries simulated with density functional theory for surface-structure models that consider terminating OH, whereas good agreement is found for PTCDI in direct contact with the topmost Zn layer. The consequential assignment of OH to subsurface sites is supported by additional, independent XSW and energy scanned photoelectron diffraction data and calls for a reconsideration of the prevalent surface models with important implications for the understanding of ZnO(0001) surfaces.
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Feb 2020
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I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[19033]
Abstract: Heteromolecular bilayers of π-conjugated organic molecules (COM) on metals, considered as model systems for more complex thin film heterostructures, are investigated with respect to their structural and electronic properties. By exploring the influence of the organic-metal interaction strength in bilayer systems, we determine the molecular arrangement in the physisorptive regime for copper-hexadecafluorophthalocyanine (F16CuPc) on Au(111) with intermediate layers of 5,7,12,14-pentacenetetrone (P4O) and perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI). Using the X-ray standing wave (XSW) technique to distinguish the different molecular layers, we show that these two bilayers are ordered following their deposition sequence. Surprisingly, F16CuPc as the second layer within the heterostructures exhibits an inverted intramolecular distortion compared to its monolayer structure.
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Feb 2020
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I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[9523, 9848, 10443, 11337, 11415, 12797, 13740]
Open Access
Abstract: Organic semiconductors are carbon-based materials with promising features aimed at substituting and/or complementing their inorganic counterparts (e.g. silicon, germanium or gallium arsenide). They can be cheaply mass-produced, they are flexible and their properties can be chemically tuned, all attractive characteristics for the consumer-electronics market. In recent years, remarkable progress has been made and one can already buy smartphones and TVs equipped with organic LEDs. Also, interesting prototypes of roll-up organic solar cells have been presented. Nonetheless, the real breakthrough for these materials is yet to come since fundamental aspects regarding the charge transport through metal electrodes (among others), important for the device circuitry, still limit the overall efficiency. In this context, the energy-level alignment (ELA) between the molecules and the electrode determines the charge injection/extraction energy barriers and, therefore, is responsible for an optimum charge transfer across the interface. A proper rationalization of the ELA requires a full description of the interface properties: electronic, chemical as well as structural, including adsorption distances and molecular distortions. Chemical functionalization of polymers or small molecules by adding side groups with strong electron donor or acceptor behavior has been a way to optimize the ELA. In this work, we employ element-specific techniques such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray standing waves (XSW) to infer how partial nitrogen and fluorine substitution in prototypical and well studied π-conjugated organic molecules affects the geometrical, chemical and electronic properties of these when deposited on metal single-crystal substrates with different reactivities. We show that the combination of high-resolution XPS with XSW is a powerful method to tackle this issue since the adsorption distance and molecular distortion can be readily connected to feature changes in the XP spectra. In particular, we deposit several perylene and pentacene derivatives on different metal and semiconductor surfaces, namely the (111) surface of gold, silver and copper and the polar surfaces (000±1) of zinc oxide (ZnO). Finally, we also show that this method can be extended successfully to study the evolution of the bare ZnO surface under different treatments in real-time. ZnO is a promising transparent inorganic semiconductor that can be engineered easily in different nanostructures. Its polar surfaces represent a conundrum, as the actual composition and conformation of the surface are still a topic of debate. Having extracted the chemical and structural information with a combination of XPS and XSW, we provide new results about the surface and its respective behavior under different treatment conditions.
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Jun 2018
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I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[12797]
Abstract: We experimentally quantify the molecular bending of a partially fluorinated pentacene (PEN) compound, namely 2,3,9,10-tetrafluoropentacene (F4PEN), adsorbed on Cu(111). By means of the x-ray standing wave (XSW) technique, we directly measure the adsorption distance of three inequivalent carbon sites, the fluorine atoms as well as the total and backbone carbon average adsorption distances. The precise positioning of different sites within the carbon core allows us to resolve two adsorption behaviors, namely a PEN-like strong coupling between the backbone and the substrate, and a repulsive interaction involving the fluorinated short molecular edges, which are 0.91±0.09Å above the central benzene ring. This finding is further supported by additional electronic and in-plane-structure measurements, thus showing that the selective fluorination of a PEN molecule has only a local conformational effect and it is not sufficient to modify its interface properties. Yet, in the multilayer regime, the electronic and growth properties of the film differ completely from those of PEN and its perfluorinated derivative.
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Apr 2018
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I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
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Qi
Wang
,
Antoni
Franco-Cañellas
,
Penghui
Ji
,
Christoph
Buerker
,
Rong-Bin
Wang
,
Katharina
Broch
,
Pardeep Kumar
Thakur
,
Tien-Lin
Lee
,
Haiming
Zhang
,
Alexander
Gerlach
,
Lifeng
Chi
,
Steffen
Duhm
,
Frank
Schreiber
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[10443]
Abstract: Organic heterostructures are a central part of a manifold of (opto)electronic devices and serve a variety of functions. Particularly, molecular monolayers on metal electrodes are of paramount importance for device performance as they allow tuning energy levels in a versatile way. However, this can be hampered by molecular exchange, i.e., by interlayer diffusion of molecules toward the metal surface. We show that the organic–metal interaction strength is the decisive factor for the arrangement in bilayers, which is the most fundamental version of organic–organic heterostructures. The subtle differences in molecular structure of 6,13-pentacenequinone (P2O) and 5,7,12,14-pentacenetetrone (P4O) lead to antithetic adsorption behavior on Ag(111): physisorption of P2O but chemisorption of P4O. This allows providing general indicators for organic–metal coupling based on shifts in photoelectron spectroscopy data and to show that the coupling strength of copper-phthalocyanine (CuPc) with Ag(111) is in between that of P2O and P4O. We find that, indeed, CuPc forms a bilayer when deposited on a monolayer P4O/Ag(111) but molecular exchange takes place with P2O, as shown by a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and X-ray standing wave experiments.
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Apr 2018
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I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
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Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[12797, 9523]
Abstract: We present a comprehensive study of the complex interface between perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI) and the (111) surfaces of the three coinage metals. The specific structural, electronic, and chemical properties of the interface rendered by the different substrate reactivities are monitored with low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), x-ray standing waves (XSW), and ultraviolet and x-ray photelectron spectroscopy (UPS and XPS). In particular, the balance between molecule-substrate and molecule-molecule interactions is considered when interpreting the core-level spectra of the different interfaces. By presenting additional adsorption distances of the unsubstituted perylene, we show that the molecular functionalization via end groups with acceptor character facilitates the charge transfer from the substrate but it is not directly responsible for the associated short adsorption distances, demonstrating that this frequently assumed correlation is not necessarily correct.
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Jun 2017
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I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis
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Ao
Yang
,
Antoni
Franco Canellas
,
Mikio
Sato
,
Bin
Wang
,
Rong-Bin
Wang
,
Harunobu
Koike
,
Ingo
Salzmann
,
Pardeep
Kumar Thakur
,
Tien-Lin
Lee
,
Lijia
Liu
,
Satoshi
Kera
,
Alexander
Gerlach
,
Kaname
Kanai
,
Jian
Fan
,
Frank
Schreiber
,
Steffen
Duhm
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
[9523]
Abstract: We investigated the structural and electronic properties of vacuum sublimed 7,8,15,16-tetraazaterrylene (TAT) thin films on Au(111), Ag(111), and Cu(111) substrates using inverse photoemission spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low energy electron diffraction (LEED), and the x-ray standing wave (XSW) technique. The LEED reveals a flat adsorption geometry of the monolayer TAT on these three substrates, which is in accordance with the XSW results. The molecules are slightly distorted in monolayers on all three substrates with the nitrogen atoms having smaller averaged bonding distances than the carbon atoms. On Ag(111) and Cu(111), chemisorption with a net electron transfer from the substrate to the adsorbate takes place, as evidenced by UPS and XPS. Combining these results, we gain full insight into the correlation between electronic properties and interface geometry.
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Oct 2016
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