title: Structures and displacement of 1-adamantanethiol self-assembled monolayers on Au{111}.
abstract: We have designed monolayers with weak intermolecular interactions for use as placeholders in intelligent self- and directed-assembly. We have shown that these 1-adamantanethiolate monolayers are labile with respect to displacement by exposing them to dilute solutions of alkanethiols. These self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of 1-adamantanethiol on Au{111} were probed using ambient scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), and their assembled order was determined. Solution deposition of the molecules results in a highly ordered hexagonally close-packed molecular lattice with a measured nearest neighbor distance of 6.9 +/- 0.4 A. The SAMs exhibit several rotational domains, but lack the protruding domain boundaries typical of alkanethiolate SAMs, and are similarly stable at room temperature. Co-deposition of alkanethiol and 1-adamantanethiol from solution results in alkanethiolate SAMs, except when using extremely low alkanethiol to 1-adamantanethiol concentration ratios. Facile displacement of low interaction strength SAMs can be exploited to enhance patterning using soft nanolithography.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802-6300, USA.
authors.forename: Arrelaine A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Dameron
authors.forename: Lyndon F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Charles
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Weiss