• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제30권6호
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• pp.1309-1312
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• 2009

Surface potential and growth processes of hexadecanethiol (HDT) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on Au(111) surfaces were examined by Kelvin probe method and scanning tunneling microscopy. It was found that surface potential strongly depends on surface structure of HDT SAMs. The surface potential shift for the striped phase of HDT SAMs chemisorbed on Au(111) surface was +0.45 eV, which was nearly the same as that of the flat-lying hexadecane layer physisorbed on Au(111) surface. This result indicates that the interfacial dipole layer induced by adsorption of alkyl chains is a main contributor to the surface potential change. In the densely-packed HDT monolayer, further change of the surface potential was observed, suggesting that the dipole moment of the alkanethiol molecules is an origin of the surface potential change. These results indicate that the work function of a metal electrode can be modified by controlling the molecular orientation of an adsorbed molecule.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국진공학회 2011년도 제40회 동계학술대회 초록집
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• pp.27-27
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• 2011

For the design of real applicable molecular devices, current-voltage properties through molecular nanostructures such as metal-molecule-metal junctions (molecular junctions) have been studied extensively. In thiolate monolayers on the gold electrode, the chemical bonding of sulfur to gold and the van der Waals interactions between the alkyl chains of neighboring molecules are important factors in the formation of well-defined monolayers and in the control of the electron transport rate. Charge transport through the molecular junctions depends significantly on the energy levels of molecules relative to the Fermi levels of the contacts and the electronic structure of the molecule. It is important to understand the interfacial electron transport in accordance with the increased film thickness of alkyl chains that are known as an insulating layer, but are required for molecular device fabrication. Thiol-tethered RuII terpyridine complexes were synthesized for a voltage-driven molecular switch and used to understand the switch-on mechanism of the molecular switches of single metal complexes in the solid-state molecular junction in a vacuum. Electrochemical voltammetry and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics are measured to elucidate electron transport processes in the bistable conducting states of single molecular junctions of a molecular switch, Ru(II) terpyridine complexes. (1) On the basis of the Ru-centered electrochemical reaction data, the electron transport rate increases in the mixed self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of Ru(II) terpyridine complexes, indicating strong electronic coupling between the redox center and the substrate, along the molecules. (2) In a low-conducting state before switch-on, I-V characteristics are fitted to a direct tunneling model, and the estimated tunneling decay constant across the Ru(II) terpyridine complex is found to be smaller than that of alkanethiol. (3) The threshold voltages for the switch-on from low- to high-conducting states are identical, corresponding to the electron affinity of the molecules. (4) A high-conducting state after switch-on remains in the reverse voltage sweep, and a linear relationship of the current to the voltage is obtained. These results reveal electron transport paths via the redox centers of the Ru(II) terpyridine complexes, a molecular switch.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제32권4호
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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.