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Room temperature propylene dehydrogenation and linear atomic chain formation on Ni(111)

The structures formed by propylene adsorption on Ni(111) at room temperature are determined by a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory. As a result of the interaction with the Ni(111) surface, propylene molecules are dehydrogenated and coupled into linear hydrocarbon chains. The length of the chains varies from 8 to 60A, with the most frequently observed length of 18A. At saturated coverage, some chains are closed in rings with a diameter of 6A. A C12H12 model is proposed for most often observed chains. We demonstrate that the possibility of combining initial propylene molecules into chains appears after dehydrogenation of the CH3 fragment.