One-dimensional ordered structure of a-sexithienyl on Cu(110)

TL;DR

This study investigates the atomic arrangement of a-sexithienyl films on Cu(110), revealing a method to control and analyze one-dimensional molecular ordering using NEXAFS techniques.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to fabricate and characterize 1D molecular structures of a-sexithienyl on copper surfaces with detailed orientation analysis.

Findings

Successful fabrication of 1D a-sexithienyl structures on Cu(110)

Direct measurement of molecular orientation using NEXAFS

Proposed method to determine molecular orientation distribution

Abstract

We have studied atomic structures of a-sexithienyl (6T) films grown on Cu(110) by near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS). A one-dimensional (1D) ordered structure of 6T with its molecular long axis parallel to the Cu[001] direction could be fabricated by deposition at 300 K and subsequent annealing at 360 K. Polarization and azimuth-dependent NEXAFS revealed the formation process of the 1D structure and showed the molecular orientation in the in-plane direction directly. We propose here a method to obtain the orientation distribution function of molecules using NEXAFS.