Quasiperiodic arrays of finite-size <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">C</mml:mi> <mml:mn>60</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:math> molecular chains induced by anisotropic growth

Due to their diverse adsorption sites with distinct electronic, chemical, and geometrical properties, quasicrystal surfaces serve as a platform for growing novel overlayer structures. Here, we present the growth of <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <a:msub> <a:mi mathvariant="normal">C</a:mi> <a:mn>60</a:mn> </a:msub> </a:math> molecules on a twofold surface of the decagonal Al-Ni-Co quasicrystal, which possesses both periodic and quasiperiodic order. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) reveals that the deposited <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <c:msub> <c:mi mathvariant="normal">C</c:mi> <c:mn>60</c:mn> </c:msub> </c:math> preferentially grows along the periodic direction, producing chains of <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <e:msub> <e:mi mathvariant="normal">C</e:mi> <e:mn>60</e:mn> </e:msub> </e:math> molecules arranged in a Fibonacci sequence, a representative of one-dimensional quasicrystalline order. By comparing STM images at submonolayer coverage with the substrate model structure, we identified that <g:math xmlns:g="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <g:msub> <g:mi mathvariant="normal">C</g:mi> <g:mn>60</g:mn> </g:msub> </g:math> molecules preferentially adsorb at Ni/Co atomic sites matching the geometry of <i:math xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <i:msub> <i:mi mathvariant="normal">C</i:mi> <i:mn>60</i:mn> </i:msub> </i:math> molecules. The <k:math xmlns:k="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <k:msub> <k:mi mathvariant="normal">C</k:mi> <k:mn>60</k:mn> </k:msub> </k:math> molecules experience two competing processes: substrate-molecule interactions and molecule-molecule van der Waals interactions, resulting in chains of limited length. These findings provide insights into tailoring molecular assemblies on quasicrystalline templates, with potential applications in nanostructured materials and molecular electronics.