Metal-Organic Interfaces (MOIN)
Emmy Noether Group
Inspired by supramolecular and polymer chemistry in solution, the surface science community has developed in the last decades a variety of strategies to form organic assemblies and two-dimensional covalent layers on well-defined flat solid surfaces. This approach is today known under the name of on-surface synthesis. The preparation and characterization methods employed by this approach are however radically different to those of conventional chemistry since they are carried out under vacuum conditions. As a result, well-defined organic layers can be prepared and characterized at the single-molecule level.
This way of preparing organic layers is of great interest to the organic electronics and optoelectronics communities. However, its potential in the field of electrochemistry has been scarcely exploited.
In the Metal-Organic Interfaces (MOIN) group, we use the on-surface synthesis approach to create novel organic assemblies for the functionalization of metal electrodes, typically single crystals, and the development of well-defined heterogeneous molecular catalysts. Making use of different techniques under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions, we can determine the chemical and electronic structure of the molecular building blocks (e.g., x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, XPS), the molecular arrangement with single-molecule resolution (e.g., scanning tunneling microscopy, STM) and the adsorption configuration (e.g., high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy, HREELS).
Our goal is to develop well-defined tailor-made metal-organic interfaces to study their behavior under different electrochemical conditions and make them suitable for chemical energy conversion applications. The available equipment allows the transfer of the samples from the UHV system to the electrochemical workstation without exposing the surface to air, preserving the properties of the metal-organic interface. In the electrochemical workstation, different electrocatalytic properties such as activity, selectivity and stability are studied.
We also take advantage of the strong expertise of the Interface Science Department in operando techniques, establishing exciting collaborations that allow the study of different properties of the metal-organic interface during reaction conditions.
Group Members
| Name | |
|---|---|
| Mikhail Belozertsev | belozertsev@fhi.mpg.de |
| Dr. Juan J. Navarro | jjnavarro@fhi-berlin.mpg.de |
Vacancies
We are happy to receive the CV of highly motivated people willing to do their PhD or Postdoc in our group.
News
A new Emmy Noether Group for Dr. Juan J. Navarro
Recent Publications
Articles
peer-reviewed