Solution concentration controlled self-assembling structure with host–guest recognition at the liquid–solid interface

In the present investigation, we reported the fabrication of a chicken-wire porous 2D network formed by triphenylene-2,6,10-tricarboxylic acid (H3TTCA) at the liquid–solid interface. When coronene (COR) molecules were added into the system, the H3TTCA honey-comb network was broken and the reconstructed structures of the H3TTCA/COR host–guest systems were subsequently formed. Scanning tunneling microscopic (STM) measurements and density function theory (DFT) calculations were utilized to reveal the structural variety in the co-assembly of H3TTCA/COR controlled by the solution concentration at 1-heptanoic acid/HOPG interface.