On-surface synthesis of graphene nanostructures on non-metallic substrates*

On-surface synthesis of atomically precise carbon-based nanostructures has generated enormous expectations about their potential applications. However, so far selected noble metals have been mostly used as substrates catalyzing the on-surface reactions strongly limiting this perspective.

Here, we will present a method to tackle this long-standing challenge of on-surface synthesis of predesigned carbon nanostructures directly on non-metallic substrates [1]. We will show that thermally triggered intra-molecular C-C coupling is effectively realized on a model transition metal oxide substrate via selective activation of C-F bonds and corresponding cyclodehydrofluorination reactions. Our low temperature STM, XPS and mass spectroscopy experiments prove that flexible oligophenylene chains can be transformed into predesigned nanographene molecules. Finally, we will discuss a strategy to combine C-F bond activation with previous reports on the inter-molecular C-C bond formation [2,3].

[1] M. Kolmer et al., Science, 363, 57-60 (2019);
[2] M. Kolmer et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 52, 10300 (2013);
[3] M. Kolmer et al., Chem. Comm., 51, 1127 (2015).