Host–Guest Superstructures on Graphene-Based Kagome Lattice

Abstract

The Kagome lattice of iron phthalocyanine (FePc) on the graphene moiré pattern is employed as host template for two kinds of guest molecules, FePc and tert-butyl zinc phthalocyanine ((t-Bu)4–ZnPc), to fabricate stable host–guest molecular superstructures. Both FePc and (t-Bu)4–ZnPc molecules prefer to occupy the nanoscale pores of the Kagome lattice. Ordered superstructures with alternate rows of FePc and (t-Bu)4–ZnPc are formed after coadsorption of these two species with a ratio of 1:1 on the Kagome lattice. We elucidate that formation of ordered superstructures of guest FePc and (t-Bu)4–ZnPc are controlled by long-range interaction between the guest molecules mediated by the host Kagome lattice with additional contribution from the graphene/Ru(0001) substrate.