Unravelling the multilayer growth of the fullerene C60 in real time.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 25369851.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms6388 and PMC identifier 4272254.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Molecular semiconductors are increasingly used in devices, but understanding of elementary nanoscopic processes in molecular film growth is in its infancy. Here we use real-time in situ specular and diffuse X-ray scattering in combination with kinetic Monte Carlo simulations to study C60 nucleation and multilayer growth. We determine a self-consistent set of energy parameters describing both intra- and interlayer diffusion processes in C60 growth. This approach yields an effective Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier of EES=110 meV, diffusion barrier of ED=540 meV and binding energy of EB=130 meV. Analysing the particle-resolved dynamics, we find that the lateral diffusion is similar to colloids, but characterized by an atom-like Schwoebel barrier. Our results contribute to a fundamental understanding of molecular growth processes in a system, which forms an important intermediate case between atoms and colloids.