Exploring high temperature templating in non-planar phthalocyanine/copper iodide (111) bilayers

Abstract

Elevated substrate temperature growth of phthalocyanine thin films is known to influence film morphology and increase crystallinity. Structural templating offers another method through which the structure of phthalocyanine films can be controlled. Here we combine the use of copper iodide (CuI) and elevated substrate temperatures and investigate their effect on the growth of a non-planar phthalocyanine system. Employing X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy we present detailed surface and crystal structure information. Vanadyl phthalocyanine (VOPc) is shown to adopt an edge-on orientation on CuI at ambient substrate temperatures, a behaviour in stark contrast to that of previously studied planar phthalocyanine molecules. Elevated substrate temperature is shown to result in changes in the surface morphology and structure demonstrating the versatility of the system. The crystal structure of VOPc was redetermined and used to infer the molecular orientation of the various VOPc/CuI bilayer structures.