Role of the substrate in electronic structure, molecular orientation, and morphology of organic thin films: diindenoperylene on rutile TiO2(110)

The results of our multitechnique investigation performed on diindenoperylene thin films deposited on rutile TiO2(110) show island growth, with crystallites nucleating preferentially along the [10] substrate crystallographic axis. The findings evidence that the films’ properties at the interface are common to those found for a number of organic molecules deposited on the same substrate, revealing that the structural and morphological properties of organic thin films on rutile TiO2(110) are completely driven by its surface morphology.