Tuning of noble metal work function with organophosphonate nanolayers
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180 (United States)
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269 (United States)
- Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier, UMR 5253 CNRS-IM2-ENSCM-UM1, Université Montpellier 2, CC 1701, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5 (France)
We demonstrate that weak chemical interactions between untethered moieties in molecular nanolayers on metal surfaces can strongly influence the effective work function Φ{sub eff}. Electron spectroscopy shows that nanolayers of mercaptan-anchored organophosphonates on Au and Pt decrease Φ{sub eff}. The measured Φ{sub eff} shifts correlate with the chemical state of phosphonic acid moieties, and scale with molecular length. These results are contrary to predictions of ab initio calculations of monolayer-capped surfaces, but are consistent with calculations of bilayer-capped surfaces with face-to-face hydrogen-bonded phosphonic acid moieties. Our findings indicate that intra-layer bonding and layering in molecular nanolayers can be key to tailoring heterointerfacial electronic properties for applications.
- OSTI ID:
- 22310939
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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