Au-adatoms in Self-assembly of Benzenethiol on the Au(111) Surface

Journal Article · Sun Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 2008 · Journal of the American Chemical Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/ja800577w· OSTI ID:973118

Maksymovych, Petro ^[1]; YatesJr, John T ^[2]

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1. ORNL
2. University of Virginia, Charlottesville

Self-assembly of benzenethiol at low coverage on Au(111) was studied using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Phenylthiolate species (PhS), formed by thermal dehydrogenation of the parent PhSH molecule, was found to self-assemble into surface- bonded complexes with gold adatoms. Each such complex involves two PhS species and one gold adatom. The PhS-species form either cis- or trans-geometry relative to each other. At a higher coverage the complexes coalesce, most likely due to the formation of weak C- H..S hydrogen bonds facilitated by the spatial arrangement of the PhS-groups. Our findings thus establish that the self-assembly of arenethiols on Au(111) surface is driven by gold adatom chemistry, which has recently been found to be the key ingredient in the self- assembly of alkanethiols on gold.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
• Sponsoring Organization: SC USDOE - Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 973118
• Journal Information: Journal of the American Chemical Society, Journal Name: Journal of the American Chemical Society Journal Issue: 24 Vol. 130; ISSN JACSAT; ISSN 0002-7863
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English