Co--dsorption of terrylene and tetrapentacontane on hexagonal boron nitride - towards a two-dimensional Shpolskii matrix

Abstract

Organic molecular emitters are promising building blocks for quantum technologies, but their use at two-dimensional interfaces is limited by diffusion, aggregation, and photobleaching. We present work towards constructing an ultrathin two-dimensional Shpolskii-like host-guest matrix on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) by co-depositing terrylene fluorophores with the long-chain tetrapentacontane in a solution-phase process. We demonstrate that this approach disperses terrylene in a roughly one-nanometer-thin alkane layer without detectable phase separation and allows tuning the emitter density from ensembles to isolated emitters showing characteristic blinking behavior consistent with single-molecule fluorescence. Time-lapse confocal microscopy, autocorrelation analysis, and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching show that suppressed diffusion and stable emitter positions can be achieved in several samples with a tetrapentacontane matrix. Encapsulation with hBN from the top side further improves photostability, with emitters demonstrating long lifetimes despite high photon doses. Successful co-adsorption of isolated emitters and alkane matrix is a milestone towards extending Shpolskii-type molecular isolation to hBN and provides a route towards stable, interface-integrated molecular qubits.