Modeling of molecular stripe formation on insulating surfaces

We discuss theoretical approaches to model molecular stripe formation on dielectric surfaces as observed for 3-hydroxybenzoic acid (3-HBA) and 3-aminobenzoic acid (3-ABA) on calcite (104). For the self-assembly of the 3-HBA and 3-ABA molecules it is argued that adsorption-induced dipolar interactions cause an ordering towards a regular spacing between the molecular stripes. Measured stripe distance distributions show a good agreement with analytical results for a simplified one-dimensional model [1]. In this model scaling relations for the distance distribution are predicted that can be tested experimentally. In a refined approach, we further study the stripe formation on a two-dimensional lattice by an anisotropic Ising model with dipole-dipole interactions. For this model, stripe length and distance distributions as well as spatial correlation properties are determined by Monte Carlo simulations and compared with experimental data.

[1] J. L. Neff, H. Söngen, R. Bechstein, P. Maass, and A. Kühnle, J. Phys. Chem. C 119, 24927 (2015).