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Growth of a self-assembled monolayer decoupled from the substrate: nucleation on-command using buffer layers
Structural polymorphism is ubiquitous in physisorbed self-assembled monolayers formed at the solution–solid interface. One of the ways to influence network formation at this interface is to physically decouple the self-assembled monolayer from the underlying substrate thereby removing the influence...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Beilstein-Institut
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7476593/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32953373 http://dx.doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.11.113 |
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author | Reynaerts, Robby Mali, Kunal S De Feyter, Steven |
author_facet | Reynaerts, Robby Mali, Kunal S De Feyter, Steven |
author_sort | Reynaerts, Robby |
collection | PubMed |
description | Structural polymorphism is ubiquitous in physisorbed self-assembled monolayers formed at the solution–solid interface. One of the ways to influence network formation at this interface is to physically decouple the self-assembled monolayer from the underlying substrate thereby removing the influence of the substrate lattice, if any. Here we show a systematic exploration of self-assembly of a typical building block, namely 4-tetradecyloxybenzoic acid at the 1-phenyloctane–graphite interface in the presence and in the absence of a buffer layer formed by a long chain alkane, namely n-pentacontane. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), three different structural polymorphs were identified for 4-tetradecyloxybenzoic acid at the 1-phenyloctane–graphite interface. Surprisingly, the same three structures were formed on top of the buffer layer, albeit at different concentrations. Systematic variation of experimental parameters did not lead to any new network in the presence of the buffer layer. We discovered that the self-assembly on top of the buffer layer allows better control over the nanoscale manipulation of the self-assembled networks. Using the influence of the STM tip, we could initiate the nucleation of small isolated domains of the benzoic acid on-command in a reproducible fashion. Such controlled nucleation experiments hold promise for studying fundamental processes inherent to the assembly process on surfaces. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7476593 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Beilstein-Institut |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-74765932020-09-18 Growth of a self-assembled monolayer decoupled from the substrate: nucleation on-command using buffer layers Reynaerts, Robby Mali, Kunal S De Feyter, Steven Beilstein J Nanotechnol Full Research Paper Structural polymorphism is ubiquitous in physisorbed self-assembled monolayers formed at the solution–solid interface. One of the ways to influence network formation at this interface is to physically decouple the self-assembled monolayer from the underlying substrate thereby removing the influence of the substrate lattice, if any. Here we show a systematic exploration of self-assembly of a typical building block, namely 4-tetradecyloxybenzoic acid at the 1-phenyloctane–graphite interface in the presence and in the absence of a buffer layer formed by a long chain alkane, namely n-pentacontane. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), three different structural polymorphs were identified for 4-tetradecyloxybenzoic acid at the 1-phenyloctane–graphite interface. Surprisingly, the same three structures were formed on top of the buffer layer, albeit at different concentrations. Systematic variation of experimental parameters did not lead to any new network in the presence of the buffer layer. We discovered that the self-assembly on top of the buffer layer allows better control over the nanoscale manipulation of the self-assembled networks. Using the influence of the STM tip, we could initiate the nucleation of small isolated domains of the benzoic acid on-command in a reproducible fashion. Such controlled nucleation experiments hold promise for studying fundamental processes inherent to the assembly process on surfaces. Beilstein-Institut 2020-09-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7476593/ /pubmed/32953373 http://dx.doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.11.113 Text en Copyright © 2020, Reynaerts et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0https://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjnano/termsThis is an Open Access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Please note that the reuse, redistribution and reproduction in particular requires that the authors and source are credited. The license is subject to the Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology terms and conditions: (https://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjnano/terms) |
spellingShingle | Full Research Paper Reynaerts, Robby Mali, Kunal S De Feyter, Steven Growth of a self-assembled monolayer decoupled from the substrate: nucleation on-command using buffer layers |
title | Growth of a self-assembled monolayer decoupled from the substrate: nucleation on-command using buffer layers |
title_full | Growth of a self-assembled monolayer decoupled from the substrate: nucleation on-command using buffer layers |
title_fullStr | Growth of a self-assembled monolayer decoupled from the substrate: nucleation on-command using buffer layers |
title_full_unstemmed | Growth of a self-assembled monolayer decoupled from the substrate: nucleation on-command using buffer layers |
title_short | Growth of a self-assembled monolayer decoupled from the substrate: nucleation on-command using buffer layers |
title_sort | growth of a self-assembled monolayer decoupled from the substrate: nucleation on-command using buffer layers |
topic | Full Research Paper |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7476593/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32953373 http://dx.doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.11.113 |
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