Scientists unveil method for 3D molecular structures

The technique could offer a way of building new data storage devices that are orders of magnitude smaller than existing silicon-based counterparts.

Nottingham professor Neil Champness explained the breakthrough process involves introducing a ‘guest’ molecule known as a buckyball — or C60 for its 60 carbon atoms — onto a surface patterned by an array of tetracarboxylic acid molecules.

‘The reason why [a buckyball was] chosen is because it has three-dimensional shapes; it is a sphere,’ he said. ‘The shape of it is what encourages this three-dimensional growth away from the surface.’

Champness said his research in this area goes back to 2003 when he and fellow colleagues discovered a way to position molecules on a surface in two dimensions.

‘Over that period there was a number of groups around the world trying to develop this idea but what couldn’t be done is building that structure up from the surface as well,’ he said.