Catalysis Spatially Resolved on a Surface – CASPARES

The development of nanoscale structures, in a controlled and reproducible way is one of the major challenges today in science and technology of materials. Organic or organometallic materials are well known for their remarkable optoelectronic, electronic, or magnetic properties. They are expected to very efficiently deliver new properties through the proper design of molecular materials at the nanometer scale.
The main objective of the project is to use an atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip carrying out a catalyst of nanometric size as a tool to promote metal-catalyzed reactions on a well defined area on the surface. We wish to show here that the use of an AFM tip supporting a catalyst is a tool of choice well-adapted to the realization of local organic synthesis on a surface. In such way, a large variety of reactions between a molecule grafted on the surface and a reactant in solution can be controlled spatially at the molecular level.
Our proposal will be divided in three scientific tasks. In the first one, we wish to spatially control SAM functionalization by an AFM-tip supported catalyst to selectively create locally new functions on the surface which could serve as anchoring points to build 3D-nanoobjects. The second point will concerned the located and covalently grafting of a located functional area on the SAM in order to control the nucleation of a polymer or an oligomer. The final task of the project will be devoted to the use of a functionalized AFM-tip to control the drawing of a covalent junction between two plots of the surface.