Surface Decoration at the Atomic Scale Using a Molecular Pattern: Copper Adsorption on Cyanide-Modified Pt(111) Electrodes

We report on copper adsorption through a self-ordered molecular pattern, namely cyanide-modified Pt(111), in a attempt to develop a procedure with which periodic metallic nanostructured deposits could be fabricated. We show that copper (either in ionic or metallic state) adsorbs on the surface of a cyanide-modified Pt(111) electrode following exactly the molecular pattern. Our work presents two novelties: (i) the attempt to use a molecular pattern to govern the deposition of a metal, and not the adsorption of an organic or organometallic molecule or supramolecule, and (ii) the line width of the pattern, of only one atomic diameter.