Lazzerini, GM;
Paterno, GM;
Tregnago, G;
Treat, N;
Stingelin, N;
Yacoot, A;
Cacialli, F;
(2016)
Traceable atomic force microscopy of high-quality solvent-free crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C-61-butyric acid methyl ester.
Applied Physics Letters
, 108
(5)
, Article 053303. 10.1063/1.4941227.
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Abstract
We report high-resolution, traceable atomic force microscopymeasurements of high-quality, solvent-free single crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). These were grown by drop-casting PCBM solutions onto the spectrosil substrates and by removing the residual solvent in a vacuum. A home-built atomic force microscope featuring a plane mirror differential optical interferometer, fiber-fed from a frequency-stabilized laser (emitting at 632.8 nm), was used to measure the crystals' height. The optical interferometer together with the stabilized laser provides traceability (via the laser wavelength) of the vertical measurements made with the atomic force microscope. We find that the crystals can conform to the surface topography, thanks to their height being significantly smaller compared to their lateral dimensions (namely, heights between about 50 nm and 140 nm, for the crystals analysed, vs. several tens of microns lateral dimensions). The vast majority of the crystals are flat, but an isolated, non-flat crystal provides insights into the growth mechanism and allows identification of “molecular terraces” whose height corresponds to one of the lattice constants of the single PCBM crystal (1.4 nm) as measured with X-ray diffraction.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Traceable atomic force microscopy of high-quality solvent-free crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C-61-butyric acid methyl ester |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1063/1.4941227 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4941227 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | The following article appeared in: Lazzerini, GM; Paterno, GM; Tregnago, G; Treat, N; Stingelin, N; Yacoot, A; Cacialli, F; (2016) Traceable atomic force microscopy of high-quality solvent-free crystals of [6,6]-phenyl-C-61-butyric acid methyl ester. Applied Physics Letters, 108 (5), Article 053303, and may be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4941227. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1486113 |
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