Anchoring and Reacting On-Surface to Achieve Programmability.

Area of Science:

• Surface chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Catalysis

Background:

• On-surface synthesis is a powerful technique for creating low-dimensional molecular nanostructures with atomic precision.
• Its simplicity, selectivity, and programmability are highly valued in the chemistry community.
• However, limited mechanistic understanding and methodological differences hinder its broader application in conventional reaction and catalysis studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review empirical paradigms of programmability in on-surface synthesis.
• To highlight the link between chemical heterogeneity, molecular coding, and catalytic surface selectivity.
• To bridge the gap between on-surface synthesis mechanisms and conventional chemistry.

Main Methods:

• Review of empirical paradigms in on-surface synthesis.
• Analysis of chemical heterogeneity at the molecular level.
• Utilizing structure-sensitive techniques for surface analysis.

Main Results:

• Programmability in on-surface synthesis is intrinsically linked to chemical heterogeneity.
• Catalytic surfaces can decipher this coded heterogeneity, leading to specific chemical selectivity.
• Structure-sensitive techniques reveal surface chemical heterogeneity, aiding nanoarchitecture construction.

Conclusions:

• Chemical heterogeneity is a fundamental concept for programmable on-surface synthesis.
• Understanding surface-encoded chemical information is crucial for advancing the field.
• This perspective aims to integrate on-surface synthesis mechanistic insights with conventional chemical cognition.