Physics of Surfaces and Interfaces

Course with Participations of Group Members

Offers for Theses in the Group

Binding of gaseous compounds on surface supported metalloporphyrin arrays

For the creation of novel materials and devices, inspiration is frequently sought in nature. Metalloporphyrins are natural compounds and common prosthetic groups to handle respiratory gases, sensing and catalytic functions. Arrays of metalloporphyrin layers under vacuum conditions present a versatile playground for functional interfaces due to the coordinatively unsaturated metal centers. Complexes of inorganic gaseous molecules, as CO, with metalloporphyrins are important intermediate species in catalytic processes, crucial in chemical processing. We aim to improve the fundamental understanding of these complex systems, in order to enable green chemical production. Hence, we perform model experiments with different metalloporphyrins (e.g. ruthenium octaethylporphyrin or ruthenium tetraphenylporphyrin) on different well-defined metal surfaces (e.g. Ag(111) or Cu(110)). Our methods are, on the one hand, visualization of the porphyrin structures on the metal surface with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) on a submolecular level. To support these data we use spectroscopic methods, such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The bachelor thesis would focus on adsorption experiments with CO on metalloporphyrins with STM.

suitable as

• Bachelor’s Thesis Physics

Supervisor: Anthoula Chrysa Papageorgiou

Current and Finished Theses in the Group