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Institute of Solid State Theory
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28 August 2023 | Münster (upm)
Researchers produce polymers from ballbot-type carbenes for the first time
Chemical on-surface synthesis under extremely clean conditions permits controlled synthesis of N-heterocyclic ballbot-type polymers
N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are small, reactive ring molecules which bond well with metallic surfaces and which, over the past few years, have attracted a great deal of interest in the field of the stable chemical modification of metallic surfaces. One property – discovered at the University of Münster a few years ago – is the ability which certain NHC derivatives have, not only to anchor themselves to individual metal atoms, but also to completely extract an individual atom from the surface. Having bonded with these so-called adatoms, the NHCs glide freely over the surface – like a ballbot, i.e. a robot which moves on a sphere. Using such “ballbot molecules”, and working together with Chinese researchers, the Münster physicists and chemists now succeeded for the first time in making the halogenated NHCs produce long-chain mobile polymers – i.e. chains of molecules – on metallic surfaces. Details of the work have been published in the journal “Nature Chemistry”.
10 August 2023
EDISON 22 - Jubiläumskonferenz für Halbleiterphysik
Tilmann Kuhn gibt Einblicke in aktuelle Entwicklungen und Tagungsthemen
Mehr als 130 Physikerinnen und Physiker aus 23 Ländern kommen vom 14. bis 18. August in Münster zusammen, um über Fragen der modernen Halbleiterphysik und Anwendungen in Elektronik, Optoelektronik und Quantentechnologien zu diskutieren. Das Institut für Festkörpertheorie und das Physikalische Institut des Fachbereichs Physik der Universität Münster richten die „22nd International Conference on Electron Dynamics in Semiconductors, Optoelectronics and Nanostructures (EDISON 22)“ aus und holen sie damit nach Berlin 1997 zum zweiten Mal nach Deutschland. Kathrin Kottke sprach mit dem Konferenzvorsitzenden Prof. Dr. Tilmann Kuhn vom Institut für Festkörpertheorie über aktuelle Entwicklungen, Trends und den besonderen Charakter der Tagung.