Synthesis and characterization of low-dimensional N-heterocyclic carbene lattices

• DOI: 10.1126/science.adm9814
• Publication Date: 2024-05-23T18:03:18Z
• Authors: Boyu Qie; Ziyi Wang; Jingwei Jiang; Zisheng Zhang; Peter H. Jacobse; Jiaming Lu; Xinheng Li; Fujia Liu; Anastassia N. Ale...; Steven G. Louie; Michael F. Crommie; Felix R. Fischer
• Keywords: Characterization

The covalent interaction of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) with transition metal atoms gives rise to distinctive frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs). These emergent electronic states have spurred the widespread adoption NHC ligands in chemical catalysis and functional materials. Although formation carbene-metal complexes self-assembled monolayers on surfaces has been explored, design structure characterization extended low-dimensional NHC-metal lattices remains elusive. Here we demonstrate a modular approach engineering one-dimensional (1D) metal-organic chains two-dimensional (2D) Kagome using FMOs NHC-Au-NHC junctions create networks exhibiting intrinsic metallicity. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy first-principles density theory reveal contribution C-Au-C π-bonding dispersive bands that imbue 1D- 2D-NHC exceptionally small work functions.