Ordered heteromolecular overlayers formed by metal phthalocyanines and porphyrins on rutile titanium dioxide surface studied at room temperature

Abstract

Molecular heterostructures are formed from meso-tetraphenyl porphyrins-Zn(ii) (ZnTPP) and Cu(ii)-phthalocyanines (CuPc) on the rutile TiO2(011) surface. We demonstrate that ZnTPP molecules form a quasi-ordered wetting layer with flat-lying molecules, which provides the support for growth of islands comprised of upright CuPc molecules. The incorporation of the ZnTPP layer and the growth of heterostructures increase the stability of the system and allow for room temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements, which is contrasted with unstable STM probing of only CuPc species on TiO2. We demonstrate that within the CuPc layer the molecules arrange in two phases and we identify molecular dimers as basic building blocks of the dominant structural phase.