Anchoring of a single molecular rotor and its array on metal surfaces using molecular design and self-assembly

Functionalizing of single molecules on surfaces has manifested great potential for bottom-up construction of complex devices on a molecular scale. We discuss the growth mechanism for the initial layers of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on metal surfaces and we review our recent progress on molecular machines, and present a molecular rotor with a fixed off-center axis formed by chemical bonding. These results represent important advances in molecular-based nanotechnology.