title: True nature of an archetypal self-assembly system: mobile Au-thiolate species on Au(111).
abstract: Alkanethiol self-assembled monolayer (SAM) phases on Au(111) have been assumed to involve direct S head group bonding to the substrate. Using x-ray standing wave experiments, we show the thiolate actually bonds to gold adatoms; self-organization in these archetypal SAM systems must therefore be governed by the movement of these Au-S-R moieties on the surface between two distinct local hollow sites on the surface. The results of recent ab initio total energy calculations provide strong support for this description, and a rationale for the implied significant molecular mobility in these systems.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bovet
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Satterley
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bengió
authors.forename: Kevin R J
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Lovelock
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Milligan
authors.forename: Robert G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Woodruff
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dhanak