Unravelling the mechanism of on-surface 2D polymer formation at the liquid-solid interface: towards reliable and robust synthetic strategies

Polymers have permeated almost every sphere of modern life, from packaging to drug delivery, from 3D printing to airplanes. So, after being around for more than a century, what is the next big thing for polymers? The answer lies in the arrival of two-dimensional (2D) materials which have dominated headlines in recent years. Graphene, a single atom thick sheet of carbon isolated at the beginning of the century has several interesting properties and is a valuable material for many applications. Graphene extends in 2D unlike conventional polymers where molecular strings extend only in 1D. Graphene, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. The field of 2D materials is getting crowded and synthetic 2D polymers made by stitching small organic molecules in 2D offer a promising alternative. Unlike known inorganic 2D materials, their properties can be readily manipulated using synthetic organic chemistry. While the premise of the idea appears rather appealing and straightforward, the path forward is not easy given the need to obtain large-area, defect-free films of chemically stable 2D polymers. In this project, we will tackle two important challenges associated with synthetic 2D polymers: (1) the lack of fundamental insight into the mechanism of 2D polymer formation and (2) the poor chemical stability of the prevalent 2D polymer systems.