Green Chemistry Approach to Surface Decoration: Trimesic Acid Self-Assembly on HOPG

We have investigated trimesic acid (1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid, TMA) adsorption on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface from aqueous medium at room temperature. Both atomic force microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy were utilized to follow the adsorption dynamics and molecular arrangements. We have proposed an optimized green chemistry approach for fabricating trimesic acid monolayer structures on HOPG. A chicken-wire arrangement for adsorbed molecules with an average pore size of 11 ± 1 Å was established and was observed using both scanning techniques. This structure was found to be stable in the ambient for at least two days