“…In fact, in addition to the uniaxially aligned ribbons on top of the flat terraces, the ribbons display a particular affinity to the steps, adsorbing in a tilted configuration with either side of the GNR on each of the two neighboring terraces (Figure 2a). Both of these findings were expected, since stepped surfaces have been used often for alignment purposes [7,[20][21][22][23][24], and many molecules, including GNRs [22,25], are known to display a particular affinity for adsorption on the undercoordinated and thus more reactive step atoms. Around the central (111) substrate orientation, displaying ample flat terraces, the ribbons adsorb with multiple azimuthal orientations, as expected from the six-fold symmetry of the surface (Figure 2b).…”