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The on-surface synthesis of edge-functionalized graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) is challenged by the stability of the functional groups throughout the thermal reaction steps of the synthetic pathway. Edge fluorination is a particularly critical case in which the interaction with the catalytic substrate and intermediate products can induce the complete cleavage of the otherwise strong C–F bonds before the formation of the GNR. Here, we demonstrate how a rational design of the precursor can stabilize the functional group, enabling the synthesis of edge-fluorinated GNRs. The survival of the functionalization is demonstrated by tracking the structural and chemical transformations occurring at each reaction step with complementary X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy measurements. In contrast to previous attempts, we find that the C–F bond survives the cyclodehydrogenation of the intermediate polymers, leaving a thermal window where GNRs withhold more than 80% of the fluorine atoms. We attribute this enhanced stability of the C–F bond to the particular structure of our precursor, which prevents the cleavage of the C–F bond by avoiding interaction with the residual hydrogen originated in the cyclodehydrogenation. This structural protection of the linking bond could be implemented in the synthesis of other sp2-functionalized GNRs., C.M. was supported by the Agency for Management of University and Research grants (AGAUR) of the Catalan government through the FP7 framework program of the European Commission under Marie Curie COFUND action 600385 funded by the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya. We acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, MINECO (under Contracts Nos. MAT2016-78293-C6 and FIS2017-83780-P and SEV-2017-0706), the Spanish Research Agency (AEI /10.13039/501100011033, under Contracts Nos. PID2019-107338RB, PCI2019-111890-2), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Interreg V-A España-Francia-Andorra program (Contract No. EFA 194/16 TNSI), the EU project SPRING (863098), the Xunta de Galicia (Centro singular de investigación de Galicia accreditation 2019-2022, ED431G 2019/03).

Contributing to the need for new graphene nanoribbon (GNR) structures that can be synthesized with atomic precision, we have designed a reactant that renders chiral (3,1)-GNRs after a multistep reaction including Ullmann coupling and cyclodehydrogenation. The nanoribbon synthesis has been successfully proven on different coinage metals, and the formation process, together with the fingerprints associated with each reaction step, has been studied by combining scanning tunneling microscopy, core-level spectroscopy, and density functional calculations. In addition to the GNR’s chiral edge structure, the substantial GNR lengths achieved and the low processing temperature required to complete the reaction grant this reactant extremely interesting properties for potential applications., The project leading to this publication has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant Agreement No. 635919), from ICT-FET EU integrated project PAMS (Agreement No. 610446), from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Competitiveness (MINECO, Grant Nos. MAT2013-46593-C6-01, MAT2013-46593-C6-2-P, MAT2013-46593-C6-4-P, MAT2013-46593-C6-6-P), FEDER, from the Basque Government (Grant Nos. IT-621-13, IT-756-13, and PI2015-042), from the World Premier International Center (WPI) for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA) of the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba, Japan, and from JSPS Bilateral Open Partnership Joint Research Project.

Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) and their derivatives attract growing attention due to their excellent electronic and magnetic properties as well as the fine-tuning of such properties that can be obtained by heteroatom substitution and/or edge morphology modification. Here, we introduce graphene nanoribbon derivatives—organometallic hybrids with gold atoms incorporated between the carbon skeleton and side Cl atoms. We show that narrow chlorinated 5-AGNROHs (armchair graphene nanoribbon organometallic hybrids) can be fabricated by on-surface polymerization with omission of the cyclodehydrogenation reaction by a proper choice of tailored molecular precursors. Finally, we describe a route to exchange chlorine atoms connected through gold atoms to the carbon skeleton by hydrogen atom treatment. This is achieved directly on the surface, resulting in perfect unsubstituted hydrogen-terminated GNRs. This will be beneficial in the molecule on-surface processing when the preparation of final unsubstituted hydrocarbon structure is desired., This work was supported by the National Science Center, Poland (2019/35/B/ST5/02666), and the EU Project PAMS (610446). A.G.L., D.S.P., and P.B. acknowledge the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Grants MAT2016-78293-C6-4-R, PID2019-107338RB-C66, and FIS2017-83780-P), Dep. Educación of the Basque Government and UPV/EHU (Grant IT-756-13), and the European Union (EU) through Horizon 2020 (FET-Open project SPRING Grant 863098) for support.

Synthesis of a triporous nanographene with 102 sp2 carbon atoms by combining solution and surface chemistry., The synthesis of porous nanographenes is a challenging task for solution chemistry, and thus, on-surface synthesis provides an alternative approach. Here, we report the synthesis of a triporous nanographene with 102 sp2 carbon atoms by combining solution and surface chemistry. The carbon skeleton was obtained by Pd-catalyzed cyclotrimerization of arynes in solution, while planarization of the molecule was achieved through two hierarchically organized on-surface cyclodehydrogenation reactions, intra- and inter-blade. Remarkably, the three non-planar [14]annulene pores of this nanographene further evolved at higher temperatures showing interesting intra-porous on-surface reactivity.

The conductances of molecules physisorbed to Au(1 1 1) via an extended [Formula: see text] system are probed with the tip of a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope to maximize the control of the junction geometry. Inert hydrogen, methyl, and reactive propynyl subunits were attached to the platform and stand upright. Because of their different reactivities, either non-bonding (hydrogen and methyl) or bonding (propynyl) tip-molecule contacts are formed. The conductances exhibit little scatter between different experimental runs on different molecules, display distinct evolutions with the tip-subunit distance, and reach contact values of 0.003-0.05 G 0. For equal tip-platform distances the contact conductance of the inert methyl is close to that of the reactive propynyl. Under further compression, the inert species, hydrogen and methyl, are found to be better conductors. This shows that the current flow is not directly correlated with the chemical interaction. Atomistic calculations for the methyl case reproduce the conductance evolution and reveal the role of the junction geometry, forces and orbital symmetries at the tip-molecule interface. The current flow is controlled by orbital symmetries at the electrode interfaces rather than by the energy alignment of the molecular orbitals and electrode states. Functionalized molecular platforms thus open new ways to control and engineer electron conduction through metal-molecule interfaces at the atomic level.

A set of density-functional theory based tools is employed to elucidate the influence of chemical and surface-induced changes on the core level shifts of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy experiments. The capabilities of our tools are demonstrated by analyzing the origin of an unpredicted component in the N 1s core level spectra of metal phthalocyanine molecules (in particular ZnPc) adsorbed on Cu(110). We address surface induced effects, such as splitting of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital or local electrostatic effects, demonstrating that these cannot account for the huge core level shift measured experimentally. Our calculations also show that, when adsorbed at low temperatures, these molecules might capture hydrogen atoms from the surface, giving rise to hydrogenated molecular species and, consequently, to an extra component in the molecular core level spectra. Only upon annealing, and subsequent hydrogen release, would the molecules recover their nominal structural and electronic properties., The authors thank L. Floreano and M. Blanco-Rey for useful discussions, and acknowledge support from the Basque Departamento de Educacion and UPV/EHU (Grants No. PI-2016-1-0027, IT-756-13 and IT-621-13), the Spanish Ministry (Grants No. MAT2016-78293-C6-4-R, MAT2016-78293-C6-5-R, and FIS2016-75862-P), and the European Union FP7-ICT Integrated Project PAMS under Contract No. 610446.

Large aromatic carbon nanostructures are cornerstone materials due to their increasingly active role in functional devices, but their synthesis in solution encounters size and shape limitations. New on-surface strategies facilitate the synthesis of large and insoluble planar systems with atomic-scale precision. While dehydrogenation is usually the chemical zipping reaction building up large aromatic carbon structures, mostly benzenoid structures are being produced. Here, we report on a new cyclodehydrogenation reaction transforming a sterically stressed precursor with conjoined cove regions into planar carbon platform by incorporating azulene moieties in their interior. Submolecular resolution STM is used to characterize this exotic large polycyclic aromatic compound on Au(111) yielding unprecedented insight into a dehydrogenative intramolecular aryl-aryl coupling reaction. The resulting polycyclic aromatic carbon structure shows a [18]annulene core hosting peculiar pore states confined at the carbon cavity., Comment: Accepted for publication in Nanoletters

In this work, we present a detail description of a self-consistent ab initio procedure for modeling the non-equilibrium elastic electron transport through a nanostructure coupled to semi-infinite external electrodes and with a finite applied bias voltage. Our method is based on the approach presented in Wang [L.W. Wang, Phys. Rev. B 72 (2005) 045417] and Garcia-Lekue and Wang [A. Garcia-Lekue, L.W. Wang, Phys. Rev. B 72 (2005) 045417], where the coherent quantum transport is calculated by means of the exact scattering states with plane wave non-local pseudopotentials, using periodic boundary conditions. In our previous calculation, the charge density and the electron potential were not calculated self-consistently even for a finite bias problem. Here, we introduce an iterative approach to obtain the self-consistent charge density and potential. Our self-consistent algorithm employs Pulay–Kerker mixing scheme and is found to provide fast, accurate and stable numerical solutions of the non-equilibrium problem. Details of the method are presented thus the readers can implement the method easily. As an illustration of our method, non-equilibrium transport properties for a model system made up of a di-thiol-benzene molecule connected by two Cu wires are calculated.

Controlling the strength of the coupling between organic molecules and single atoms provides a powerful tool for tuning electronic properties of single-molecule devices. Here, using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS) supported by theoretical modeling, we study the interaction of a planar organic molecule (trinaphthylene) with a hydrogen-passivated Ge(001):H substrate and a single dangling bond quantum dot on that surface. The electronic structure of the molecule adsorbed on the hydrogen-passivated surface is similar to the gas phase structure and the measurements show that HOMO and LUMO states contribute to the STM filled and empty state images, respectively. Furthermore, we show that the electronic properties are not significantly affected when the molecule is attached to the single dangling bond, which is in contrast with the strong interaction of the molecule with a dangling bond dimer. Our results show that the dangling bond quantum dots could stabilize organic molecules on a hydrogenated semiconductor without affecting their originally designed gas phase electronic properties. Together with the ability to laterally manipulate the molecules on the surface, this will be advantageous in the construction of single-molecule devices, where the coupling and positioning of the molecules on the substrate could be tuned by a proper design of the surface quantum dot arrays, comprising both single and dimerized dangling bonds., This work was supported by the Polish Ministry for Science and Higher Education, contract no. 0322/IP3/2013/72. The experiment was carried out using equipment purchased with financial support from the European Regional Development Fund within the framework of the Polish Innovation Economy Operational Program (contract no. POIG.02.01.00-12-023/08). ME, AGL and DSP acknowledge funding by the FP7 FET-ICT “Planar Atomic and Molecular Scale devices” (PAMS) project (funded by the European Commission under contract No. 610446), the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) (Grant No. MAT2013-46593-C6-2-P) and the Basque Department of Education and the UPV/EHU (Grant No. IT-756-13). MK acknowledges financial support received from the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP). SG acknowledges the support from the National Science Centre, Poland (2014/15/D/ST3/02975). AME acknowledges the MINECO (Grant No. CTQ2013-42106-P). HK acknowledges the A*STAR Computational Resource Centre (A*CRC) for the computational resources and support. RZ acknowledges support received from KNOW (scholarship KNOW/44/SS/RZ/2015).

Construction of single-molecule electronic devices requires the controlled manipulation of organic molecules and their properties. This could be achieved by tuning the interaction between the molecule and individual atoms by local “on-surface” chemistry, i.e., the controlled formation of chemical bonds between the species. We demonstrate here the reversible attachment of a planar conjugated polyaromatic molecule to a pair of unpassivated dangling bonds on a hydrogenated Ge(001):H surface via a Diels–Alder [4+2] addition using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Due to the small stability difference between the covalently bonded and a nearly undistorted structure attached to the dangling bond dimer by long-range dispersive forces, we show that at cryogenic temperatures the molecule can be switched between both configurations. The reversibility of this covalent bond forming reaction may be applied in the construction of complex circuits containing organic molecules with tunable properties., This work was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland (2014/15/D/ST3/02975). The experiment was carried out using equipment purchased with financial support from the European Regional Development Fund within the framework of the Polish Innovation Economy Operational Program (contract no. POIG.02.01.00-12-023/08). ME, AGL and DSP acknowledge funding by the FP7 FET-ICT “Planar Atomic and Molecular Scale devices” (PAMS) project (funded by the European Commission under contract no. 610446), the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) (Grant No. MAT2013-46593-C6-2-P) and the Basque Department of Education and the UPV/EHU (Grant No. IT-756-13). MK acknowledges financial support received from the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP). SG acknowledges the support from the Polish Ministry for Science and Higher Education, contract no. 0322/IP3/2013/72. AME acknowledges the MINECO (Grant No. CTQ2013-42106-P). HK acknowledges the A*STAR Computational Resource Centre (A*CRC) for the computational resources and support. CJ acknowledges the MANA NEXT financial support during this work. RZ acknowledges support received from KNOW (scholarship KNOW/44/SS/RZ/2015).

arXiv:1609.03842v1, We have theoretically investigated the electronic properties of neutral and n-doped dangling bond (DB) quasi-one-dimensional structures (lines) in the Si(001):H and Ge(001):H substrates with the aim of identifying atomic-scale interconnects exhibiting metallic conduction for use in on-surface circuitry. Whether neutral or doped, DB lines are prone to suffer geometrical distortions or have magnetic ground states that render them semiconducting. However, from our study we have identified one exception—a dimer row fully stripped of hydrogen passivation. Such a DB-dimer line shows an electronic band structure which is remarkably insensitive to the doping level, and thus, it is possible to manipulate the position of the Fermi level, moving it away from the gap. Transport calculations demonstrate that the metallic conduction in the DB-dimer line can survive thermally induced disorder but is more sensitive to imperfect patterning. In conclusion, the DB-dimer line shows remarkable stability to doping and could serve as a one-dimensional metallic conductor on n-doped samples., This work is funded by the FP7 FET-ICT “Planar Atomic and Molecular Scale devices” (PAMS) project (funded by the European Commission under contract No. 610446). ME, PB, TF, AGL, and DSP also acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) (Grant No. MAT2013-46593-C6-2-P) and the Basque Dep. de Educación and the UPV/EHU (Grant No. IT-756-13).

Due to the importance of scanning tunneling microscopy for atomic scale research the anomalously high corrugation values on close packed metal surfaces have been the subject of debate and extensive theoretical work in the past two decades. To date it remained unclear, how surface properties and electronic structures are related to forces and interactions. Here we show that elasticity, in particular the high elasticity of aluminum surfaces, enhances corrugation by up to one order of magnitude. The parameterfree simulations yield correct results for all close packed metal surfaces and emphasize the importance of atomic relaxations for chemisorption processes. � 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. It is an astonishing fact that every second paper on surface chemistry or physics today is based on scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments. The versatility of STM mostly derives from its ability to probe into most of the surface properties at the atomic scale. It has been shown conclusively, that it cannot only resolve atomic positions, but also their chemical nature [1], their chemical environment [2], magnetization [3], and even two dimensional surface states [4]. By contrast, STM theory has long been focused on electronic surface properties alone [5]. The method, even though it is generally reliable, involves as free parameter the distance between the two surfaces, which can be used to adjust simulated density contours to constant current linescans. In the estimates the actual distance between the atomic cores of surface and tip atoms varies widely from less than 300 to more than 1000 pm [6,7]. This distance range covers more than seven orders of magnitude in the tunnel

We present a unique remodeling of flat copper terraces induced by organic molecules. In particular, we show how metal-phthalocyanines (MPc, M = Zn and Cu) tailor the formation of regular arrays of Cu nanostripes on its (110) surface. The MPc mediated reshaping of Cu(110) terraces is found to involve a massive reorganization of Cu adatoms, at variance with the conventional changes of metal reconstructions upon molecular adsorption observed so far. By combining experimental and theoretical surface science techniques, we reveal the key role played by the metal atom at the molecular center in reshaping the terrace structure. Moreover, we demonstrate that extra Cu adatoms surrounding the molecules stabilize the molecular decoration of the Cu nanostripes. The massive surface reshaping is thus due to molecular mediated unidirectional blocking of adatom surface diffusion followed by adatom capture and accumulation., We acknowledge support from the Basque Department of Education, UPV/EHU (Grants IT-756-13 and IT-621-13), the Spanish Government (Grants FIS2010-19609-C02-01, MAT2010-21156-C03-01 and -C03-03, and PIB2010US-00652), and the European Union FP7-ICT Integrated Project PAMS under contract No. 610446.

A combination of variable temperature scanning tunneling microscopy, near edge X-ray adsorption fine structure and density functional theory has been used to investigate the chemisorption and self-assembly of metal-free protoporphyrin IX molecules on Cu(110) surface. The molecules in contact with the substrate suffer irreversible molecular transformations, mainly deprotonation of the carboxylic groups and metalation of the pyrroline subunits. The carboxylate group has been revealed as the anchored group versus the tetrapyrrole ring. We study the role played by the carboxylic acid groups in the surface-molecular bonding and how its presence affects the supramolecular structure. © 2013 American Chemical Society., We acknowledge funding support from the Spanish Government (Grant No. MAT2010-21156-C03-01, and -C03-03, PIB2010US-00652, FIS2010-19609-C02-01, MAT2011-26534), the Basque Government (IT-621-13, IT-366-07, IT-366-07), and the ETORTEK program funded by the Basque Departamento de Industria.

Core level shifts (CLSs) induced by intermolecular hydrogen bond (H-bond) formation are studied with a recent implementation based on density functional theory using pseudopotentials and localized atomic orbitals, as applied to the SIESTA code. By calculating different CLSs for a set of representative simple systems containing O and/or N atoms as proton donors and/or acceptors, we are able to determine the role of the core hole screening, from the difference of CLS values calculated in the final and initial state approximations. Our calculations show that CLSs are dominated by electrostatic effects, and that the final magnitude of the CLSs, which are positive (higher binding energy) for the proton acceptor and negative for the proton donor, can be larger than 1 eV for strong H-bonds. We also find that core hole screening contribution to final CLS absolute values is always negative, thus being responsible for the difference in the magnitude of the CLS of the proton donor and proton acceptor. © 2013 Elsevier B.V., We acknowledge funding support from the Basque Departamento de Educatión, UPV/EHU (Grant No. IT-756-13), the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Grant No. FIS2010-19609-C02-01) and the ETORTEK program funded by the Basque Departamento de Industria.

Azobenzene-derivative molecules change their conformation as a result of a cis-trans transition when exposed to ultraviolet or visible light irradiation and this is expected to induce a significant variation in the conductance of molecular devices. Despite extensive investigations carried out on this type of molecule, a detailed understanding of the charge transport for the two isomers is still lacking. We report a combined experimental and theoretical analysis of electron transport through azobenzene-derivative single-molecule break junctions with Au electrodes. Current-voltage and inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS) measurements performed at 4.2 K are interpreted based on first-principles calculations of electron transmission and IETS spectra. This qualitative study unravels the origin of a slightly higher conductance of junctions with the cis isomer and demonstrates that IETS spectra of cis and trans forms show distinct vibrational fingerprints that can be used for identifying the isomer.

Using a combination of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and core level shift first principles calculations, we determine the formation of an unusual intermolecular interaction between porphyrin molecules. We show that protoporphyrin IX molecules (H2PPIX) adsorbed on Cu surfaces at low temperature (LT) form molecular adlayers stabilized by a strong (1.3 eV) tetragonal coordinated H-bond. This unconventional H-bonding involves the four nitrogen atoms in the tetrapyrrole macrocycle of one molecule, four hydrogen atoms, and one of the hydroxyl oxygen atoms from the carboxylic acid groups of an adjacent molecule. The calculations demonstrate that the corresponding fingerprint of this bond is observed in both the nitrogen XPS data, showing a unique peak, and the almost unchanged 1s core level energy of the hydroxyl oxygen atoms. We explain the formation of this bond by a charge rearrangement mechanism that includes proton sharing and migration., We acknowledge funding support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Grant No. FIS2010-19609-C02-01, MAT2011-26534, MAT2010-21156-C03-01, and -C03-03, PIB2010US-00652), the Basque Government (IT-257-07, IT-366-07), the ETORTEK program funded by the Basque Departamento de Industria and the Diputación Foral de Guipuzcoa. R.G.M. thanks the financial support of DIPC.

6 páginas, 5 figuras.-- et al., We have studied the in situ coordination reaction of porphyrin molecules, particularly protoporphyrin IX (H2PPIX), with copper substrate atoms in ultrahigh vacuum conditions with a combination of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy. We show that these protoporphyrin IX molecules deposited on Cu surfaces, as Cu(110) and Cu(100), form metalloprotoporphyrin IX (CuPPIX) by incorporation of Cu atoms from the surface already at room temperature. We have followed this reaction as a function of temperature and we have determined intermediate situations at lower temperatures where the physisorbed macrocycle rings present a tendency to establish hydrogen bonding between molecules., We acknowledge funding through Spanish research projects CSD2007-41, MAT2008-1497, PET2008-109, FIS2010-19609- C02-00, and BIO 2007-67523 and intramural project 200960I159. C.S.-S. is grateful to Ministerio de Educación for the AP2005-0433 FPU grant.

4 páginas, 3 figuras., Molecular junctions have been characterized to determine the influence of the metal contact formation in the electron transport process through a single molecule. With inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy and first-principles calculations, the vibration modes of a carbon monoxide molecule have been surveyed as a function of the distance from a copper electrode with unprecedented accuracy. We observe a continuous but nonlinear blue shift of the frustrated rotation mode in tunneling with decreasing distance followed by an abrupt softening upon contact formation. This indicates that the presence of the metal electrode sensibly alters the structural and conductive properties of the junction even without the formation of a strong chemical bond., Support from the Basque Departamento de Educación, UPV/EHU (Grant No. IT-366-07), the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Grants No. FIS2007-6671-C02-00, and MAT2007-62732), the ETORTEK program funded by the Basque Departamento de Industria and the Diputacion Foral de Guipuzcoa, and the Danish FNU (Grant No. 272-07-0114) are gratefully acknowledged.

The point contact of a tunnel tip approaching towards Ag(111) and Cu(111) surfaces is investigated with a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. A sharp jump-to-contact, random in nature, is observed in the conductance. After point contact, the tip-apex atom is transferred to the surface, indicating that a one-atom contact is formed during the approach. In sharp contrast, the conductance over single silver and copper adatoms exhibits a smooth and reproducible transition from tunneling to contact regime. Numerical simulations show that this is a consequence of the additional dipolar bonding between the homoepitaxial adatom and the surface atoms., 4 pages, 4 figures

Surface effects on the electronic energy loss of charged particles entering a metal surface are investigated within linear-response theory, in the framework of time-dependent density functional theory. Interesting phenomena occur in the loss spectra originated by the boundary (bregenzung) effect, which is as a consequence of the orthogonality of surface and bulk excitation modes. Our calculations indicate that the presence of a non-abrupt electron-density profile at the surface severely affects the nature of surface excitations, as deduced from comparison with simplified models., We acknowledge partial support by the Basque Unibertsitate eta Ikerketa Saila and the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Cultura.

First‐principle calculations show that the tunneling conductance between two metal surfaces is strictly proportional to the chemical interaction energy for the whole range of STM operation up to the point where the atoms jump into contact. Comparing the results of two separate simulations on Au(111) and Cu(100) we find that this behaviour is independent of surface orientation and chemical composition.

A molecular transistor based on torsion-angle conformation change driven by gate electric field is designed and studied using ab initio calculations. This transistor consists of a SH–C6H2F(CH3)C6H2(CH3)F–SH molecule sandwiched between two Au(111) electrodes, where the interaction between the molecular dipole and a gate voltage induced electric field will cause the molecule to twist along its c-axis, changing the quantum conductivity of the molecule. The effect of thermal fluctuation on the molecular conformation is studied, so is the ability of the transistor to shut off its current. The advantages and challenges of using such molecular conformation change as a mechanism for transistor gating are discussed.

High-quality graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) grown by on-surface synthesis strategies with atomic precision can be controllably doped by inserting heteroatoms or chemical groups in the molecular precursors. Here, we study the electronic structure of armchair GNRs substitutionally doped with di-boron moieties at the center, through a combination of scanning tunneling spectroscopy, angle-resolved photoemission, and density functional theory simulations. Boron atoms appear with a small displacement toward the surface, signaling their stronger interactions with the metal. We find two boron-rich flat bands emerging as impurity states inside the GNR band gap, one of them particularly broadened after its hybridization with the gold surface states. In addition, the boron atoms shift the conduction and valence bands of the pristine GNR away from the gap edge and leave unaffected the bands above and below, which become the new frontier bands and have a negligible boron character. This is due to the selective mixing of boron states with GNR bands according to their symmetry. Our results depict that the GNR band structure can be tuned by modifying the separation between di-boron moieties., We acknowledge financial support from the Basque Government (Departamento de Industria, grant no. PI-2015-1-42, and Departamento de Educación and UPV/EHU, grant no. IT-756-13), the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (grant nos. MAT2016-78293-C6, FIS2015-62538-ERC, FIS2017-83780-P), the Maria de Maeztu Units of Excellence Programme (MDM-2016-0618), the European Research Council (grant agreement no. 635919), and the European Regional Development Fund.

Surface-confined dehalogenation reactions are versatile bottom-up approaches for the synthesis of carbonbased nanostructures with predefined chemical properties. However, for devices generally requiring low-conductivity substrates, potential applications are so far severely hampered by the necessity of a metallic surface to catalyze the reactions. In this work we report the synthesis of ordered arrays of poly(p-phenylene) chains on the surface of semiconducting TiO(110) via a dehalogenative homocoupling of 4,4″- dibromoterphenyl precursors. The supramolecular phase is clearly distinguished from the polymeric one using low-energy electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy as the substrate temperature used for deposition is varied. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of C 1s and Br 3d core levels traces the temperature of the onset of dehalogenation to around 475 K. Moreover, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and tightbinding calculations identify a highly dispersive band characteristic of a substantial overlap between the precursor's π states along the polymer, considered as the fingerprint of a successful polymerization. Thus, these results establish the first spectroscopic evidence that atomically precise carbon-based nanostructures can readily be synthesized on top of a transition-metal oxide surface, opening the prospect for the bottom-up production of novel molecule-semiconductor devices., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy (Grant No. MAT2013-46593-C6-4-P), the Basque Government (Grant No. IT-621-13), and the European Research Council under the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant Agreement No. 635919). We also acknowledge support from the Basque Department of Education, UPV/EHU (Grant No. IT-756-13), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Grant No. MAT2013-46593-C6-2-P), and the European Union FP7-ICT Integrated Project PAMS (Contract No. 610446).