Chem published our first work on Carbene/Borophene!

Linfei’s paper “Single-molecule spectroscopic probing of N-heterocyclic carbenes on a two-dimensional metal” was published by Chem. In this work, we use advanced nanospectroscopic methods to study the modification of a two-dimensional metal via N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs). We are able to generate sub-nanometer-resolved optical and electronic spectra to determine the chemical fingerprint, adsorption configuration, interfacial interaction, and local work function information of individual NHCs. This work paves the way for investigating single-molecule NHC chemistry, which is critical to understanding and controlling the fundamental properties and functions of NHC-modified materials. Significantly, we establish combined single-molecule optical/electronic spectroscopies as a promising methodology to study surface modification at the spatial limit. You can read UIC Today news report of this work “Studying new 2D materials, one molecule at a time“. It is our first carbene study. More results will follow up.