Local Electronic Structure of a Single-Layer Porphyrin-Containing Covalent Organic Framework

Chen Chen, Trinity Joshi, Huifang Li, Anton D. Chavez, Zahra Pedramrazi, Pei-Nian Liu, Hong Li, William R. Dichtel, Jean-Luc Bredas, Michael F. Crommie

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Abstract

We have characterized the local electronic structure of a porphyrin-containing single-layer covalent organic framework (COF) exhibiting a square lattice. The COF monolayer was obtained by the deposition of 2,5-dimethoxybenzene-1,4-dicarboxaldehyde (DMA) and 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-aminophenyl) porphyrin (TAPP) onto a Au(111) surface in ultrahigh vacuum followed by annealing to facilitate Schiff-base condensations between monomers. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) experiments conducted on isolated TAPP precursor molecules and the covalently linked COF networks yield similar transport (HOMO-LUMO) gaps of 1.85 ± 0.05 eV and 1.98 ± 0.04 eV, respectively. The COF orbital energy alignment, however, undergoes a significant downward shift compared to isolated TAPP molecules due to the electron-withdrawing nature of the imine bond formed during COF synthesis. Direct imaging of the COF local density of states (LDOS) via dI/dV mapping reveals that the COF HOMO and LUMO states are localized mainly on the porphyrin cores and that the HOMO displays reduced symmetry. DFT calculations reproduce the imine-induced negative shift in orbital energies and reveal that the origin of the reduced COF wave function symmetry is a saddle-like structure adopted by the porphyrin macrocycle due to its interactions with the Au(111) substrate.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)385-391
Number of pages7
JournalACS Nano
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 26 2017

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: This research was supported by the Army Research Office Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program under Grant No. W911NF-15-1-0447 (STM spectroscopy, precursor synthesis), by the Army Research Office Grant No. W911NF-17-1-0339 to Georgia Tech (DFT calculations), and by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Nanomachine Program under Contract No. DEAC02-05CH11231 (sample preparation). The KAUST IT Research Computing Team and the KAUST Supercomputing Laboratory are gratefully acknowledged for providing generous computational resources for part of our theoretical work. T.J. acknowledges support from NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE 1106400. A.D.C. acknowledges support from the NDSEG Fellowship Program.

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