Programmable motion and patterning of molecules on solid surfaces.

Adsorbed on a solid surface, a molecule can migrate and carry an electric dipole moment. A nonuniform electric field can direct the motion of the molecule. A collection of the same molecules may aggregate into a monolayer island on the solid surface. Place such molecules on a dielectric substrate surface, beneath which an array of electrodes is buried. By varying the voltages of the electrodes individually, it is possible to program molecular patterning, direct an island to move in a desired trajectory, or merge several islands into a larger one. The dexterity may lead to new technologies, such as reconfigurable molecular patterning and programmable molecular cars. This paper develops a phase field model to simulate the molecular motion and patterning under the combined actions of dipole moments, intermolecular forces, entropy, and electrodes.