On-surface synthesis of superlattice arrays of ultra-long graphene nanoribbons

We report the on-surface synthesis of graphene nanoribbon superlattice arrays directed by the herringbone reconstruction of the Au(111) surface. The uniaxial anisotropy of the zigzag pattern of the reconstruction defines a one dimensional grid for directing the Ullmann polymerization and inducing periodic arrays of parallel ultra-long nanoribbons (>100 nm), where the periodicity is varied with coverage at discrete values following a hierarchical templating behavior. © 2018 The Royal Society of Chemistry.