Rico Gutzler

Université du Québec
Institut national de la recherche scientifique
Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications
1650, boulevard Lionel-Boulet
Varennes, Québec, Canada
J3X 1S2

Telephone: +1 (514) 228-6936
Fax: +1 (450) 929-8102
gutzler@emt.inrs.ca
www.emt.inrs.ca

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The manipulation of matter at the nanometer scale is an objective which has attracted much attention in the last years and different approaches were proposed and employed to create ever smaller structures. Of these, molecular self-assembly as a bottom-up technique has become a feasible tool to pattern and functionalize surfaces in an easy and reproducible manner. Understanding the underlying principles of self-assembly is an important but still unreached goal on the way to design and create supramolecular structures. My principal research interest is the formation of molecular monolayers under various conditions like the liquid/solid and the vacuum/solid interface and their investigation by scanning tunneling microscopy. The identification of the self-assembly influencing parameters like molecular interactions or thermodynamics and kinetics is the predominant aim. In an attempt to cross the boundaries of molecular self-assembly and supramolecular chemistry, we investigate the synthesis of two-dimensional polymers on surfaces. These novel materials promise to exhibit unique properties like for example electric (semi)conductivity, important for possible applications in molecular electronics.

The long term goal is to understand how molecular self-assembly works and to achieve sufficient control over its mechanisms, so that the designed engineering of nanometer scaled structures becomes possible.

Publications

R. Gutzler, T. Sirtl, J.F. Dienstmaier, K. Mahata, W.M. Heckl, M. Schmittel, and M. Lackinger. Reversible phase transitions in self-assembled monolayers at the liquid-solid interface: Temperature-controlled opening and closing of nanopores. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 132, 5084 (2010)

N.T.N. Ha, T. Gopakumar, R. Gutzler, M. Lackinger, H. Tang, and M. Hietschold. The influence of solvophobic effects on self-assembly of trimesic acid at the liquid-solid interface. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 114, 3531 (2010)

R. Gutzler, W.M. Heckl, and M. Lackinger. Combination of a Knudsen effusion cell with a quartz crystal microbalance: in-situ measurement of molecular evaporation rates with a fully functional deposition source. Review of Scientific Instruments, 81, 015108 (2010)

R. Gutzler, H. Walch, G. Eder, S. Kloft, W.M. Heckl, and M. Lackinger. Surface mediated synthesis of 2D covalent organic frameworks: 1,3,5-tris(4-bromophenyl) benzene on graphite(001), Cu(111), and Ag(110). Chemical Communications, 29, 4456 (2009)

R. Gutzler, S. Lappe, K. Mahata, M. Schmittel, W.M. Heckl, and M. Lackinger. Aromatic interaction vs. hydrogen bonding in self-assembly at the liquid-solid interface. Chemical Communications, 6, 680 (2009)

B. Sedlmaier, A. Jivanjee, R. Gutzler, D. Huscher, and S. Jovanovic. Ventilation time of the middle ear in otitis media with effusion (OME) after CO2 laser myringotomy. The Laryngoscope, 122, 661 (2002)