Tailoring molecular layers at metal surfaces

The design of networks of organic molecules at metal surfaces, highly attractive for a variety of applications ranging from molecular electronics to gas sensors to protective coatings, has matured to a degree that patterns with multinanometre unit cells and almost any arbitrary geometry can be fabricated. This Review provides an overview of vacuum-deposited organic networks at metal surfaces, using intermolecular hydrogen bonding, metal-atom coordination and in situ polymerization. Recent progress in these areas highlights how the design of surface patterns can benefit from the wealth of information available from solution- and bulk-phase chemistry, while at the same time providing novel insights into the nature of such bonds through the applicability of direct scanning probe imaging at metal surfaces.