A. Borras, O. Groening, M. Aguirre, F. Gramm, P. Groening
Langmuir, 26 (2010) 5763–5771
doi: 10.1021/la1003758

We present for the first time a general vacuum process for the growth of supported organic nanowires formed by π-conjugated molecules, including metalloporphyrins, metallophthalocyanines, and perylenes. This methodology consists on a one-step physical vapor deposition of the π-conjugated molecules. The synthesis is carried out at controlled temperature on substrates with tailor morphology which allows the growth of organic nanowires in the form of squared nanofibers and nanobelts. The study of the nanowires by electron diffraction and HRTEM combining with the results of a theoretical analysis of the possible arrangement of the π-conjugated molecules along the nanowires reveals that the nanowires show a columnar structure along the fiber axis consisting of π-stacked molecules having a herringbone-like arrangement. The formation of these nanowires on different substrates demonstrates that the growth mechanism is independent of the substrate chemical composition. An in-depth phenomenological study of the formation of the nanowires drives us to propose a growth mechanism based on a crystallization process. Furthermore, the growth method allows the fabrication of two particular 1D heterostructures: binary and open core@shell organic nanofibers.