A molecular overlayer with the Fibonacci square grid structure

Quasicrystals differ from conventional crystals and amorphous materials in that they possess long-range order without periodicity. They exhibit orders of rotational symmetry which are forbidden in periodic crystals, such as five-, ten-, and twelve-fold, and their structures can be described with complex aperiodic tilings such as Penrose tilings and Stampfli–Gaehler tilings. Previous theoretical work explored the structure and properties of a hypothetical four-fold symmetric quasicrystal—the so-called Fibonacci square grid. Here, we show an experimental realisation of the Fibonacci square grid structure in a molecular overlayer. Scanning tunnelling microscopy reveals that fullerenes (C(60)) deposited on the two-fold surface of an icosahedral Al–Pd–Mn quasicrystal selectively adsorb atop Mn atoms, forming a Fibonacci square grid. The site-specific adsorption behaviour offers the potential to generate relatively simple quasicrystalline overlayer structures with tunable physical properties and demonstrates the use of molecules as a surface chemical probe to identify atomic species on similar metallic alloy surfaces.