Organization of alkane amines on a gold surface: Structure, surface dipole, and electron transfer

DE LA LLAVE, E; CLARENC, ROMAIN; SCHIFFRIN, D.J.; WILLIAMS, F.J.

JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2014

1932-7447

Surface molecular self-assembly is a fast advancing field with broad applications in molecular electronics, sensing and advanced materials. Although a large number of practical systems utilize alkanethiols, there is increasing interest in alkylamine self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). In this article, the molecular and electronic structure of alkylamine SAMs on Au surfaces was studied. It was found that amine-terminated alkanes self-assemble, forming a compact layer with the amine headgroup interacting directly with the Au surface and the hydrocarbon backbone tilted by around 30° with respect to the surface normal. The dense layers formed substantially decrease electron tunneling across the metal/solution interface and form a dipole layer with positive charges residing at the monolayer/vacuum interface.