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Quasiperiodic arrays of finite-size C60 molecular chains induced by anisotropic growth

Liam Chandler1, Sam Coates1, Peter Gille2, Ronan McGrath1, and Hem Raj Sharma1,*

  • *Contact author: H.R.Sharma@liverpool.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. B 112, 235402 – Published 1 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/rn6b-hff8

Abstract

Due to their diverse adsorption sites with distinct electronic, chemical, and geometrical properties, quasicrystal surfaces serve as a platform for growing novel overlayer structures. Here, we present the growth of C60 molecules on a twofold surface of the decagonal Al-Ni-Co quasicrystal, which possesses both periodic and quasiperiodic order. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) reveals that the deposited C60 preferentially grows along the periodic direction, producing chains of C60 molecules arranged in a Fibonacci sequence, a representative of one-dimensional quasicrystalline order. By comparing STM images at submonolayer coverage with the substrate model structure, we identified that C60 molecules preferentially adsorb at Ni/Co atomic sites matching the geometry of C60 molecules. The C60 molecules experience two competing processes: substrate-molecule interactions and molecule-molecule van der Waals interactions, resulting in chains of limited length. These findings provide insights into tailoring molecular assemblies on quasicrystalline templates, with potential applications in nanostructured materials and molecular electronics.

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Phys. Rev. B 112, 235402– Published 1 December, 2025
  • Received 4 July 2025
  • Accepted 12 November 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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