The self-organisation of molecules on a crystalline surface arises from a subtle interplay of interactions between the adsorbed molecules and those between the adsorbate and substrate. An understanding of these processes will underpin advances in many developing technologies, such as biosensors, biocompatible materials, advanced electronics, energy related materials etc. Scanning tunneling microscopy permits the imaging of these interactions at the molecular level, while complementary techniques, such as vibrational spectroscopies provide additional information on molecular conformation and bonding. We exploit these and other techniques of surface characterisation to study the behaviour of small biologically active species (amino acids, nucleic acid bases etc), molecules relevant to molecular electronics, organic electronic devices and other thin film architectures, which are adsorbed on metal and semiconductor single crystal surfaces. The research group has a particular interest in studying issues associated with chirality in two dimensions.

An array of tetracene molecules adsorbed on an oxygen covered copper surface	Two teracene molecules on an oxygen covered copper surface showing the orbital structure of the HOMO

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS

1. Q. Chen and N.V. Richardson. Enantiomeric interactions between nucleic acid bases and amino acids on solid surfaces. Nature Materials (2003) 2 324-328.
2. Q. Chen, D.J. Frankel and N.V. Richardson. Self-assembly of adenine on Cu(110) surfaces. Langmuir (2002) 18 3219-3225.
3. Q. Chen and N.V. Richardson. Surface facetting induced by adsorbates. Prog. Surf. Sci. (2003) 73 59-77.
4. M. Preuss, R. Miotto, F. Bechstedt, T. Rada, N.V. Richardson and W.G. Schmidt. Structure, energetics and vibrational spectra of perylene adsorbed on Si(001): First principles calculations compared with STM and HREELS. Phys. Rev. B (2006) 74 115402.
5. D.J. Frankel, Q. Chen and N.V. Richardson. Formation of hydrogen-bridged cytosine dimers on Cu(110). J. Chem. Phys. (2006) 124 204704.