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SUMMARY:Using the Analytical Power of Surface Science for “New” Challe
 nges - Prof Giovanni Costantini\, University of Warwick
DTSTART:20210518T100000Z
DTEND:20210518T110000Z
UID:TALK159598@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:David Madden
DESCRIPTION:Modern Surface Science has developed over the last 60 years ac
 hieving stunning results and gaining a deep understanding of the elementar
 y processes that underpin advances across engineering and physical science
 s. However\, after what many see as its golden period – with the fundame
 ntal studies of heterogeneous catalysis\, the development of X-ray photoem
 ission spectroscopy\, and the invention of scanning probe microscopy (just
  to cite a few highlights) – Surface Science is nowadays often accused t
 o be excessively inward-looking\, mostly capable of studying only model sy
 stems\, of analysing in the greatest details problems of the lowest releva
 nce\, and overall incapable or unwilling to have a practical impact on the
  “real world”. This attitude has been progressively adopted by impact-
 obsessed funding agencies around the world\, making it increasingly diffic
 ult to (openly) support Surface Science research.\n\nIn this talk I will t
 ry to demonstrate that some of the most recent and powerful Surface Scienc
 e techniques are able to deliver essential information\, that cannot be ac
 hieved by any other current analytical method\, about “real world” sys
 tems with a huge practical and technological relevance. In particular\, I 
 will show that by combining vacuum electrospray deposition (ESD) and high-
 resolution scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) it is possible to image co
 njugated polymers used in organic electronics and photovoltaic devices wit
 h unprecedented detail. Based on this\, it becomes possible to sequence th
 e polymers by visual inspection and to determine their molecular mass dist
 ribution by simply counting the repeat units. Moreover\, I will demonstrat
 e that we can precisely determine the nature\, locate the position\, and a
 scertain the number of defects in the polymer backbone. This unique insigh
 t into the structure of conjugated polymers represents a fundamental contr
 ibution to the long-discussed issue of defects as a possible source of tra
 p sites.\n\nIn the second part of the talk\, I will present the self-assem
 bly of a brominated polycyclic aromatic molecule on Au(111)\, that cannot 
 be fully solved by standard STM because of its inability to conclusively e
 stablish the nature of the intermolecular interactions. Conversely\, I wil
 l show that by performing HR-STM with a CO-functionalised tip\, we can cle
 arly identify the location of rings and halogen atoms\, unambiguously dete
 rmining that halogen bonding governs the assembly. Moreover\, this analysi
 s reveals the presence of defective molecules whose existence could not be
  determined by standard chemical analytical methods. I will take this as t
 he starting point for discussing the potential of high resolution molecula
 r imaging as new and powerful analytical technique for chemical structure 
 determination.
LOCATION:via zoom - please contact David Madden for the zoom link
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