Single molecular arrays of phthalocyanine assembled with nanometer sized alkane templates

It is demonstrated that single molecular arrays of phthalocyanines (Pc) can be assembled with templates of 2-dimensional alkane lamella of nanometer scale. By optimizing stoichiometry of the binary mixture, large areas of uniform single molecular arrays can be formed in submicrometer scale. This work provides a molecular scale illustration of self-assembly of binary molecular systems based on van der Waals interaction, and a method to design and assemble single molecular arrays with submicrometer length scale.