In conventional heterogeneous catalysis, the reaction can be accelerated by electronic interactions between the reactant and metal surface, like a “hard (scrap & built)” manner. In this study, we demonstrate a synthesis of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) by a new concept of “bio-inspired heterogeneous catalysis” similar to the enzymatic reactions in biology like a “soft” manner, which is featured by homo chirality, transformation, self-assembly and adaptation, directing an optimized chemical reaction pathway to efficiently produce the product. Our developed two-zone chemical vapor deposition of the “Z-bar-linkage” precursors designed herein, exhibiting flexible as well as complex geometry that allows them to adopt chiral (asymmetrical) conformations on a Au(111) surface, results in the efficient formation of acene-type graphene nanoribbons with a width of 1.45 nm through optimized cascade reactions. These new surface-reactions include the formation of self-assembled homochiral polymers in a chain with a planar conformation, followed by efficient stepwise dehydrogenation via a conformation-controlled mechanism. Hot results on the fabrication of polar GNR is also included to talk.

References

[1] H. Sakauchi; et al., Homochiral Polymerization-driven Selective Growth of Graphene Nanoribbons. Nat. Chem., 9, 57 (2017). doi:10.1038/nchem.2614