• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.281-285
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• 2011

We investigated the effects of tunneling current on scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images of 1-octanethiol (OT) and 1-decanethiol (DT) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). At a low tunneling current, the domain boundaries and ordered alkanethiol molecules were clearly resolved. As the tunneling current was increased at a constant bias voltage, however, the STM images showed disordered structures of the OT and DT SAMs. As the tunneling current was reduced back to low values, the ordered structures of the alkanethiol molecules reappeared. The reversibility of the process suggests that the sulfur head groups did not rearrange under any of the tunneling current conditions. On the basis of our observations, which are inconsistent with the standard model for STM imaging of molecules on metal surfaces, we consider the STM imaging mechanism in terms of a two-region tunneling junction model.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.276-280
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• 2001

The self-assembled formation of octadecanethiol (CH3(CH2)17SH) on a gold substrate was studied using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). From the QCM measurements at vario us concentrations of octadecanethiol solutions in hexane and alcohol, the adsorption process of octadecanethiol onto Au was confirmed to consist of two steps as follows: (i) fast but disordered adsorption and (ii) a thermodynamically controlled rearrangement for uniform packing of octadecanethiol. Also, it was revealed that the adsorption rate became faster in ethanol than in hexane since less solubility of octadecanethiol in ethanol could help the formation of the monolayers. At 5 ${\times}$10-7 M solution, the monolayer formation was monitored by STM. The morphology of monolayer region was initially circular (diameter size: 7.26 $\pm$ 2.1 nm) and gradually changed to a stripe type after several minutes. At higher concentration, the self-assembled monolayer was formed immediately after the solution was introduced to a substrate.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.2623-2627
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• 2011

We investigated the surface structure and wetting behavior of octaneselenolate self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on Au(111) formed in a 50 ${\mu}M$ ethanol solution according to immersion time, using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and an automatic contact angle (CA) goniometer. Closely-packed, well-ordered alkanethiol SAMs would form as the immersion time increased; unexpectedly, however, we observed the structural transition of octaneselenolate SAMs from a molecular row phase with a long-range order to a disordered phase with a high density of vacancy islands (VIs). Molecularly resolved STM imaging revealed that the missing-row ordered phase of the SAMs could be assigned as a $(6{\times}{\surd}3)R30^{\circ}$ superlattice containing three molecules in the rectangular unit cell. In addition, CA measurements showed that the structural order and defect density of VIs are closely related to the wetting behaviors of octaneselenolate SAMs on gold. In this study, we clearly demonstrate that interactions between the headgroups and gold surfaces play an important role in determining the physical properties and surface structure of SAMs.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.1253-1257
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• 2011

The surface structures, adsorption conditions, and thermal desorption behaviors of cyclopentanethiol (CPT) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on Au(111) were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). STM imaging revealed that although the adsorption of CPT on Au(111) at room temperature generates disordered SAMs, CPT molecules at $50^{\circ}C$ formed well-ordered SAMs with a $(2{\surd}3{\times}{\surd}5)R41^{\circ}$ packing structure. XPS measurements showed that CPT SAMs at room temperature were formed via chemical reactions between the sulfur atoms and gold surfaces. TDS measurements showed two dominant TD peaks for the decomposed fragments ($C_5H_9^+$, m/e = 69) generated via C-S bond cleavage and the parent molecular species ($C_5H_9SH^+$, m/e = 102) derived from a recombination of the chemisorbed thiolates and hydrogen atoms near 440 K. Interestingly, dimerization of sulfur atoms in n-alkanethiol SAMs usually occurs during thermal desorption and the same reaction did not happen for CPT SAMs, which may be due to the steric hindrance of cyclic rings of the CPT molecules. In this study, we demonstrated that the alicyclic ring of organic thiols strongly affected the surface structure and thermal desorption behavior of SAMs, thus providing a good method for controlling chemical and physical properties of organic thiol SAMs.