World record in research on π-electron structures: Team succeeds in producing dodecacene for the first time

[Deutsche Version unter read more]

A team of international scientists under the lead of Francesca Moresco (Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden – cfaed at TU Dresden) and Diego Peña Gil (Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials – CiQUS at University of Santiago de Compostela) has achieved a breakthrough in the field of π-electron structures research. For the first time, they synthesized a chain of twelve benzene rings, called dodecacene, which is the longest acene ever obtained to date. This was made possible by using on-surface synthesis and observed by scanning tunneling microscopy. The investigation of the properties of higher acenes also revealed an unexpected increase in the energy gap of dodecacene. The scientists have now published their results in the journal "ACS Nano".