@article {Batra2014a,
	title = {Probing the mechanism for graphene nanoribbon formation on gold surfaces through Xray spectroscopy},
	journal = {Chemical science (Camb. 2010. Print)},
	volume = {5},
	year = {2014},
	pages = {4419–4423},
	publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry,},
	address = {Cambridge},
	abstract = {We studied the formation of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) via the self-assembly of 10,10?-dibromo-9,9?-bianthryl precursor molecules on gold surfaces with different synchrotron spectroscopies. Through X-ray photoemission spectroscopy core-level shifts, we followed each step of the synthetic process, and could show that the Br-C bonds of the precursors cleave at temperatures as low as 100 Â°C on both Au(111) and Au(110). We established that the resulting radicals bind to Au, forming Au-C and Au-Br bonds. We show that the polymerization of the precursors follows Br desorption from Au, suggesting that the presence of halogens is the limiting factor in this step. Finally, with angle-resolved ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy and density functional theory we show that the GNR/Au interaction results in an upshift of the Shockley surface state of Au(111) by [similar]0.14 eV, together with an increased electron effective mass.},
	issn = {2041-6520},
	doi = {10.1039/c4sc01584c},
	author = {Batra, Arunabh and Cvetko, Dean and Kladnik, Gregor and Adak, Olgun and Cardoso, Claudia and Ferretti, Andrea and Prezzi, Deborah and Molinari, Elisa and Morgante, Alberto and Venkataraman, Latha}
}
