| AVS 56th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Surface Science | Thursday Sessions |
| Session SS2-ThM |
| Session: | Electron Activated Molecular Interfaces |
| Presenter: | C. Shen, University of St Andrews, UK |
| Authors: | C. Shen, University of St Andrews, UK C. Silien, University of Limerick, Ireland M. Buck, University of St Andrews, UK |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Electrochemistry and self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are a versatile combination as, on the one hand, SAMs can be used as templates to control electrochemical processes whereas electrochemistry, on the other hand, allows manipulation of SAMs [1,2].
Within this context underpotential deposition (UPD) of metal, i.e. intercalation of a metal monolayer at the SAM-substrate interface, is particularly interesting as this alters the electrochemical stability of a SAM. However, to exploit this for a controlled manipulation of SAMs on the nanoscale it is mandatory to use SAMs of very high quality in order to eliminate uncontrolled metal UPD caused by defects in a SAM [3]. In our experiments we use a class of thiol SAM whose molecules are characterized by the combination of a rigid aromatic moiety with an aliphatic spacer. Forming layers of high structural perfection defects are then introduced in a controlled way by
local modification of a SAM using, for example, the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. By this means UPD of metal and subsequent modification of the SAM can be controlled on a length scale ranging from micrometers down to nanometers.
[1] Thom, I. ; Hähner, G.; Buck, M. Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 024101 (2005).
[2] Oyamatsu, D.; Nishizawa, M.; Kuwabata, S.; Yoneyama,
H. Langmuir 14, 3298 (1998).
[3] Silien, C.; Buck, M. J. Phys. Chem. C 112, 3881 (2008).