MONET · Molecular networks at phase Boundaries

Final Activity Report Summary - MONET (Molecular Networks at Phase Boundaries)

The Marie Curie Early Stage Researcher Training Network MONET was a European network funded by the European Commission between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2010. MONET had seven partners in six European countries: Lund University in Sweden, the University of Aarhus in Denmark, the University of Nottingham and the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, the Ecole normale supérieure de Lyon in France, the Fritz-Haber-Institute of the Max Planck Society in Germany, and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain. The primary aim of MONET was to provide young researchers with an outstanding multidisciplinary education in nanoscience. Nanoscience has many different facets. One very important facet is the investigation of surfaces. It is important since a very large part of all chemical reactions occur at the surfaces of materials, and the exact properties of the surfaces is decisive for how, and even whether, the chemical reactions proceed. The particular focus of MONET was networks of molecules at surfaces and how these networks interact with, in particular, other gases, but also liquids. By definition, these interactions occur at the atomic scale of things, and it is this atomic scale which received the interest of MONET. Thus, we investigated, for example, the atomic-scale details of the interaction of molecular structures with a variety of gases such as carbon monoxide, ammonia, and water. In this context, water is very special. It is extremely important - and only poorly understood today. The main difficulty with water is that weak interactions play a very important role for how water molecules bind to each other as well as to other materials. MONET addressed this issue both experimentally and theoretically, which, e.g. led to improved computational codes for the description of water. Other exciting results concern, e.g. the orientation and nature of molecular magnets at surfaces and the possibility of tuning their magnetic properties by the adsorption of small gases. In several projects, we addressed the structure of molecular networks related to solar cell devices and the charge transfer properties in such systems. Highly interesting results have been obtained in the calculation of the structure and properties of graphene, a novel material consisting of a single layer of carbon with promising properties for future technological applications. Another important aspect has been the study of the self assembly of very well-ordered networks at surfaces composed from organic molecules and, in some cases, from organic molecules and metal atoms. In this work, we have succeeded in, e.g. forming two-dimensional polymers from ordered molecules. Last, but not least, we have investigated the properties of molecular catalyst materials at surfaces from both an experimental and theoretical point-of-view. Such materials are expected to become highly important in so-called 'enantioselective' chemical reactions, which are of utmost relevance to, e.g. the production of pharmaceuticals. Important information with the respect to such enantioselective process came also from the study of chiral molecules on metal surfaces. The fourteen fellows of MONET have benefited from an integrated network, which offered many opportunities for collaboration. The fellows have been offered a truly European perspective of science and research, and they have made good use of this perspective in joint projects and in common network meetings. We hope and we think that we have provided our fellows with an excellent head-start for their future careers, whether this may be in academia or industry. Of particular importance is that the fellows already now have a European-wide network with contacts to other fellows and senior colleagues.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union