From Isolated Ions to Multilayer Functional Materials Using Ion Soft Landing

The ability to deposit intact polyatomic ions with well-defined composition, charge state, and kinetic energy onto surfaces makes preparative mass spectrometry, also called ion soft landing, particularly attractive for preparing uniform molecular and ionic layers. Early studies characterized the structures, charge states, and reactivity of sparsely distributed soft-landed species. The recent development of high-flux ionization sources has opened up new opportunities for the precisely controlled preparation of both two-dimensional structures and three-dimensional multilayer architectures by ion soft landing. The deposition of large numbers of ions onto supports led to previously unknown phenomena being uncovered, thereby opening several exciting research directions. Furthermore, faster ion deposition has enabled fabrication of novel functional devices. This Review discusses important phenomena and highlights key developments pertaining to the preparation of well-defined interfaces for studies in energy storage, catalysis, soft materials, and biology.