Bottom-up approach to constructing low-dimensional nanostructures on surfaces with terminal alkynes has drawn great interest because of its potential applications in fabricating advanced functional nanomaterials. The diversity of the achieved products manifests rich chemistry of terminal alkynes and hence careful linking strategies and proper controlling methodologies are required for selective preparations of high-quality target nanoarchitectures. This review summarizes various on-surface linking strategies for terminal alkynes, including non-bonding interactions as well as organometallic and covalent bonds, and presents examples to show effective control of surface assemblies and reactions of terminal alkynes by variations of the precursor structures, substrates and activation modes. Systematic studies of the on-surface linkage of terminal alkynes may help efficient and predictable preparations of surface nanomaterials and further understanding of surface chemistry.
Self-similar fractals are of importance in both science and engineering. Metal-organic Sierpin′ ski triangles are particularly attractive for applications in gas separation, catalysis and sensing. Such fractals are constructed in this study by using 1208 V-shaped 4,400-dicyano-1,10：30,100-terphenyl molecules and Fe atoms on Au（1 1 1）, and studied in detail by low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Density functional theory calculations are employed to rationalize the invisible Fe atoms in STM images. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to understand the formation mechanism of the surface-supported fractal crystals.
Na LiXue ZhangGao-Chen GuHao WangDamian NieckarzPawel SzabelskiYang HeYu WangJing-Tao LüHao TangLian-Mao PengShi-Min HouKai WuYong-Feng Wang
Work function plays a significant role in surface chemistry. Local work function provides the information of local d/pole-d/pole interaction and charge distribution between adsorbates and substrate, highlighting the local charge effect of the targeted spot which is normally smeared out in conventional average work function measurements. Chloroaluminum phthalocyanine （CIA1Pc）, an important optoelectronic molecule with a permanent dipole moment pointing from the Pc ring to the ending CI atom, adsorbed on Au（111） in either Cl-up or Cl-down configuration. Scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy measurements revealed that at the centers of Cl-up and CI-down molecules, the local work functions changed oppositely with respect to the Au（111） substrate. At their Pc lobes, however, the local work functions unanimously increased due to charging effect of the indole lobes in the CIAIPc molecule.
