An aperiodic chiral tiling by topological molecular self-assembly

Jan Voigt, Miloš Baljozović, Kévin Martin, Christian Wäckerlin, Narcis Avarvari () and Karl-Heinz Ernst ()
Additional contact information
Jan Voigt: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology
Miloš Baljozović: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology
Kévin Martin: SFR MATRIX
Christian Wäckerlin: Paul-Scherrer-Institut (PSI)
Narcis Avarvari: SFR MATRIX
Karl-Heinz Ernst: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Studying the self-assembly of chiral molecules in two dimensions offers insights into the fundamentals of crystallization. Using scanning tunneling microscopy, we examine an uncommon aggregation of polyaromatic chiral molecules on a silver surface. Dense packing is achieved through a chiral triangular tiling of triads, with N and N ± 1 molecules at the edges. The triangles feature a random distribution of mirror-isomers, with a significant excess of one isomer. Chirality at the domain boundaries causes a lateral shift, producing three distinct topological defects where six triangles converge. These defects partially contribute to the formation of supramolecular spirals. The observation of different equal-density arrangements suggests that entropy maximization must play a crucial role. Despite the potential for regular patterns, all observed tiling is aperiodic. Differences from previously reported aperiodic molecular assemblies, such as Penrose tiling, are discussed. Our findings demonstrate that two-dimensional molecular self-assembly can be governed by topological constraints, leading to aperiodic tiling induced by intermolecular forces.

Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-55405-5 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-55405-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-55405-5

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().