Electrochemical, HR-XPS and SERS study of the self-assembly of biphenyl 4,4'-dithiol on Au(111) from solution phase

ESTEBAN M. EUTI; PATRICIO VÉLEZ; OMAR E. LINAREZ PÉREZ; GUSTAVO RUANO; EDUARDO M. PATRITO; GUILLERMO ZAMPIERI; EZEQUIEL P. M. LEIVA; VICENTE A. MACAGNO; FERNANDO P. COMETTO

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2014 vol. 630 p. 101 - 101

he formation of 4,4?-biphenyldithiol (BPhDT) adlayers on Au(111) obtained by different preparation methods in solution phase is studied in this paper using electrochemical, spectroscopic and theoretical methods. We show that gold samples immersed in BPhDT ethanolic deoxygenated solutions are covered by at least a bilayer during the self-assembly process. The use of a reducing agent during adlayer formation improves the quality of the SAM and exposes free ?SH groups. In agreement with experimental results, DFT calculations suggest that the formation of S-S bonds between neighboring molecules implies a large energy barrier and that the formation of a lying-down structure, with both S atoms bonded to the surface, is rather unlikely.