On-surface synthesis of a chiral electronic Kagome-honeycomb molecular lattice 

Here, in collaboration with Lu Jiong's group at NUS we devised a strategy for the ultrahigh-yield synthesis of circumcoronene molecules on Cu(111) via surface-assisted intramolecular dehydrogenation of the rationally designed precursor, followed by methyl radical-radical coupling and aromatization. An elegant electrostatic interaction between circumcoronenes and metallic surface drives their self-organization into an extended superlattice, as revealed by bond-resolved scanning probe microscopy measurements. Density functional theory and tight-binding calculations reveal that unique hexagonal zigzag topology of circumcoronenes, along with their periodic electrostatic landscape, confines two-dimensional electron gas in Cu(111) into a chiral electronic Kagome-honeycomb lattice with two emergent electronic flat bands. 

M. Telychko, G. Li, P. Mutombo, D. Soler-Polo, X. Peng, J. Su, Sh. Song, M. Joo Koh, M. Edmonds, P. Jelínek, J. Wu, J. Lu
Ultrahigh-yield on-surface synthesis and assembly of circumcoronene into a chiral electronic Kagome-honeycomb lattice
Science Advances 7 (2021) eabf0269-1 - eabf0269-7.