No abstract

The recent emergence of molecular films as candidates for functional electronic materials has prompted numerous investigations of the underlying mechanisms responsible for their structure and formation. This review describes the role of epitaxy in molecular organization on crystalline substrates. A much‐needed grammar of epitaxy is presented that classifies the various modes of epitaxy according to transformation matrices that relate the overlayer lattice to the substrate lattice. The different modes of epitaxy can be organized hierarchically to reflect the balance of overlayer–substrate and molecule–molecule energies. In the case of molecular overlayers, the mismatch of overlayer and substrate symmetries commonly leads to coincident epitaxy in which some of the overlayer lattice points do not reside on substrate lattice points. Analyses of numerous reported epitaxial molecular films reveal that coincidence is quite common even though, based on overlayer–substrate interface energies alone, not as energetically favorable as commensurism. The prevalence of coincidence can be attributed to overlayer elastic constants, associated with molecule–molecule interactions within the overlayer, that are larger than the elastic constants of the overlayer–substrate interface. This condition facilitates prediction of the epitaxial configuration and overlayer structure through simple and comparatively efficient geometric modeling that does not require the input of potential energies, while revealing the role of phase coherence between the overlayer and substrate lattices.

The converse piezoelectric effect, in which an electric field applied across a piezoelectric material induces a stress in that material, has spurred many recent developments in mass measurement techniques. These methods commonly rely on the changes in the vibrational resonant frequency of piezoelectric quartz oscillators that result from changes in mass on the surface of the oscillator. The dependence of frequency on mass has been exploited extensively for mass measurements in vacuum or gas phase, for example, thickness monitors for thin-film preparation and sensors for chemical agents. Advances in piezoelectric methodology in the last decade now allow dynamic measurements of minute mass changes (< 10(-9) grams per square centimeter) at surfaces, thin films, and electrode interfaces in liquid media as well. Mass measurements associated with a diverse collection of interfacial processes can be readily performed, including chemical and biological sensors, reactions catalyzed by enzymes immobilized on surfaces, electron transfer at and ion exchange in thin polymer films, and doping reactions of conducting polymers.

Crystal engineering of molecular materials is commonly frustrated by the absence of reliable structural paradigms that are needed for systematic design of crystal lattices with predictable structure and desirable function. This problem can be attributed, at least partially, to the absence of robust supramolecular motifs that serve as synthons for the assembly of crystal lattices. A novel class of molecular crystals based on two-dimensional hydrogen (H)-bonded networks comprising guanidinium ions and the sulfonate groups of alkane- or arenedisulfonate ions is described. The disulfonate ions act as pillars that connect opposing H-bonded sheets and form nanoporous galleries with one-dimensional channels. The flexibility of the H-bonded network allows the galleries to adapt to changes in the steric requirements of guest molecules that occupy the channels. This robustness reduces crystal engineering to the last remaining dimension, enabling rational adjustment of the gallery heights by choice of the disulfonate pillar.

Classical crystal growth models posit that crystallization outcomes are determined by nuclei that resemble mature crystal phases, but at a critical size where the volume free energy of nuclei begins to offset the unfavorable surface free energy arising from the interface with the growth medium. Crystallization under nanoscale confinement offers an opportunity to examine nucleation and phase transformations at length scales corresponding to the critical size, at which kinetics and thermodynamics of nucleation and growth intersect and dramatic departures in stability compared to bulk crystals can appear. This tutorial review focuses on recent investigations of the crystallization of organic compounds in nanoporous matrices that effectively provide millions of nanoscale reactors in a single sample, ranging from controlled porous glass (CPG) beads to nanoporous block-copolymer monoliths to anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes. Confinement of crystal growth in this manner provides a snapshot of the earliest stages of crystal growth, with insights into nucleation, size-dependent polymorphism, and thermotropic behavior of nanoscale crystals. Moreover, these matrices can be used to screen for crystal polymorphs and assess their stability as nanocrystals. The well-aligned cylindrical nanoscale pores of polymer monoliths or AAO also allow determination of preferred orientation of embedded nanocrystals, affording insight into the competitive nature of nucleation, critical sizes, and phase transition mechanisms. Collectively, these investigations have increased our understanding of crystallization at length scales that are deterministic while suggesting strategies for controlling crystallization outcomes.