Co--dsorption of terrylene and tetrapentacontane on hexagonal boron nitride - towards a two-dimensional Shpolskii matrix
Abstract
Organic molecular emitters are promising building blocks for quantum technologies, but their use at two-dimensional interfaces is limited by diffusion, aggregation, and photobleaching. We present work towards constructing an ultrathin two-dimensional Shpolskii-like host-guest matrix on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) by co-depositing terrylene fluorophores with the long-chain tetrapentacontane in a solution-phase process. We demonstrate that this approach disperses terrylene in a roughly one-nanometer-thin alkane layer without detectable phase separation and allows tuning the emitter density from ensembles to isolated emitters showing characteristic blinking behavior consistent with single-molecule fluorescence. Time-lapse confocal microscopy, autocorrelation analysis, and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching show that suppressed diffusion and stable emitter positions can be achieved in several samples with a tetrapentacontane matrix. Encapsulation with hBN from the top side further improves photostability, with emitters demonstrating long lifetimes despite high photon doses. Successful co-adsorption of isolated emitters and alkane matrix is a milestone towards extending Shpolskii-type molecular isolation to hBN and provides a route towards stable, interface-integrated molecular qubits.
Related
- Mirror-symmetry engineering of altermagnetism based on monolayer hexagonal lattices
- Strain-induced structural transformations in hexagonal monolayer boron nitride. A density functional study
- A proposal for a hybrid free-space optical quantum communication network with hexagonal boron nitride-based single photon sources
- Exciton Radiative Lifetimes in Hexagonal Diamond Ge and SixGe1–x Alloys
- Optical-Phonon-Enabled Large Lattice Thermal Conductivity Anisotropy in Hexagonal Perovskites CsBX3 (B = Mg, Cd; X = Cl, Br, I)
BibTeX
@misc{sun2026codsorption,
title = {{Co--dsorption of terrylene and tetrapentacontane on hexagonal boron nitride - towards a two-dimensional Shpolskii matrix}},
author = {Rong Sun and Tolibjon Abdurakhmonov and Jan-Niklas Heidkamp and Julian Schröer and Paul Weinbrenner and Kenji Watanabe and Takashi Taniguchi and Tobias Korn and Oliver Kühn and Friedemann Reinhard},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.40733},
eprint = {2610.40733},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.40733},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Co--dsorption of terrylene and tetrapentacontane on hexagonal boron nitride - towards a two-dimensional Shpolskii matrix
AU - Rong Sun
AU - Tolibjon Abdurakhmonov
AU - Jan-Niklas Heidkamp
AU - Julian Schröer
AU - Paul Weinbrenner
AU - Kenji Watanabe
AU - Takashi Taniguchi
AU - Tobias Korn
AU - Oliver Kühn
AU - Friedemann Reinhard
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.40733
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.40733
AB - Organic molecular emitters are promising building blocks for quantum technologies, but their use at two-dimensional interfaces is limited by diffusion, aggregation, and photobleaching. We present work towards constructing an ultrathin two-dimensional Shpolskii-like host-guest matrix on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) by co-depositing terrylene fluorophores with the long-chain tetrapentacontane in a solution-phase process. We demonstrate that this approach disperses terrylene in a roughly one-nanometer-thin alkane layer without detectable phase separation and allows tuning the emitter density from ensembles to isolated emitters showing characteristic blinking behavior consistent with single-molecule fluorescence. Time-lapse confocal microscopy, autocorrelation analysis, and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching show that suppressed diffusion and stable emitter positions can be achieved in several samples with a tetrapentacontane matrix. Encapsulation with hBN from the top side further improves photostability, with emitters demonstrating long lifetimes despite high photon doses. Successful co-adsorption of isolated emitters and alkane matrix is a milestone towards extending Shpolskii-type molecular isolation to hBN and provides a route towards stable, interface-integrated molecular qubits.
ER -