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Updated: Apr 16, 2026

Microscopic Visualization of Porous Nanographenes Synthesized through a Combination of Solution and On-Surface Chemistry
Published on: March 4, 2021
On-surface synthesis of rylene-type graphene nanoribbons
Haiming Zhang1, Haiping Lin, Kewei Sun
1‡Physikalisches Institut and Center for Nanoscience and Technology (CeNTech), Universität Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.
Abstract:
The narrowest armchair graphene nanoribbon (AGNR) with five carbons across the width of the GNR (5-AGNR) was synthesized on Au(111) surfaces via sequential dehalogenation processes in a mild condition by using 1,4,5,8-tetrabromonaphthalene as the molecular precursor. Gold-organic hybrids were observed by using high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy and considered as intermediate states upon AGNR formation. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals an unexpectedly large band gap of Δ = 2.8 ± 0.1 eV on Au(111) surface which can be interpreted by the hybridization of the surface states and the molecular states of the 5-AGNR.

