Abstract
The impact of 1-decanethiol self-assembled monolayer (SAM) formation and removal cycles on polycrystalline Au surfaces and SAM quality was studied with the help of CV, DPV, Pb-UPD, STM, and AFM. The SAM removal was accomplished by dissolution with oxygen radicals generated by UV photolysis of aqueous hydrogen peroxide. During the first Au-SAM formation and removal cycles, the surface roughness decreased. After that, the surface properties remained almost unaffected, indicating that the cyclic treatment removed the most reactive gold surface sites, until a rather stable surface resulted, which guaranteed highly reproducible SAM formation.
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The work was funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) as part of the research training group (RTG) 1947.
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Thal, D., Kahlert, H., Chinnaya, J. et al. Impact of gold-1-decanethiol-SAM formation and removal cycles on the surface properties of polycrystalline gold and SAM quality. J Solid State Electrochem 22, 1149–1154 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-017-3858-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-017-3858-y