A molecular overlayer with the Fibonacci square grid structure

Sam Coates, Joseph A. Smerdon, Ronan McGrath and Hem Raj Sharma ()
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Sam Coates: University of Liverpool
Joseph A. Smerdon: University of Central Lancashire
Ronan McGrath: University of Liverpool
Hem Raj Sharma: University of Liverpool

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-5

Abstract: Abstract Quasicrystals differ from conventional crystals and amorphous materials in that they possess long-range order without periodicity. They exhibit orders of rotational symmetry which are forbidden in periodic crystals, such as five-, ten-, and twelve-fold, and their structures can be described with complex aperiodic tilings such as Penrose tilings and Stampfli–Gaehler tilings. Previous theoretical work explored the structure and properties of a hypothetical four-fold symmetric quasicrystal—the so-called Fibonacci square grid. Here, we show an experimental realisation of the Fibonacci square grid structure in a molecular overlayer. Scanning tunnelling microscopy reveals that fullerenes (C60) deposited on the two-fold surface of an icosahedral Al–Pd–Mn quasicrystal selectively adsorb atop Mn atoms, forming a Fibonacci square grid. The site-specific adsorption behaviour offers the potential to generate relatively simple quasicrystalline overlayer structures with tunable physical properties and demonstrates the use of molecules as a surface chemical probe to identify atomic species on similar metallic alloy surfaces.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05950-7

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