Assembling fullerene into nanostructures over micrometer scale with atomic precision
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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Atomically Traceable Nanostructure Fabrication
Published on: July 17, 2015
Sheng Wei1,2, Zhongping Wang1, Jing Jin1
1Department of Physics, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Assembling large organic molecules into predesigned structures for nanoscale devices is a long-standing challenge. Here, we present the atom-scale precise repositions of individual fullerene molecules and molecule transportation over the micrometer scale on a Si(111) surface via reproducible and reversible vertical manipulation by a scanning tunneling microscopy tip. A two-rod abacus consisting of ten fullerene molecules was used to perform arithmetic operations with double digits. This opens the door for the use of larger organic molecules displaying intrinsic characteristics as complex molecular devices with novel functions.
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