Silver containing nanostructures from hydrogen-bonded supramolecular scaffolds

The self-organisation of silver-containing hydrogen-bonded rosette assemblies on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surfaces is described. The introduction of silver atoms into the double rosette architecture was achieved using the affinity of silver cations for cooperative -donors or cyano functionalities on the double rosettes. Highly ordered 2-D nanorod domains with an inter-row spacing of 4-5 nm oriented in different directions were revealed by tapping-mode atomic force microscopy (AFM). This new and simple strategy for the creation of metal-containing supramolecular nanorod arrays that can act as well-defined surface-immobilised self-assembled scaffolds, will contribute to the development of functionalised nanoarchitectures via bottom-up approaches.