Self-assembled nanostructures of a di-carbonitrile molecule on copper single-crystal surfaces

Abstract

Through high-resolution UHV-STM imaging and DFT calculations, we find that a di-carbonitrile molecule unexpectedly prefers to form a hydrogen-bonded nanostructure rather than coordination bonded ones on both Cu(110) and Cu(100) at room temperature. These findings highlight the importance of the surface symmetry and molecule–surface interactions in controllable fabrication of metal–ligand coordination nanostructures.