title: Postassembly chemical modification of a highly ordered organosilane multilayer: new insights into the structure, bonding, and dynamics of self-assembling silane monolayers.
abstract: Experimental evidence derived from a comprehensive study of a self-assembled organosilane multilayer film system undergoing a process of postassembly chemical modification that affects interlayer-located polar groups of the constituent molecules while preserving its overall molecular architecture allows a quantitative evaluation of both the degree of intralayer polymerization and that of interlayer covalent bonding of the silane headgroups in a highly ordered layer assembly of this type. The investigated system consists of a layer-by-layer assembled multilayer of a bifunctional n-alkyl silane with terminal alcohol group that is in situ converted, via a wet chemical oxidation process conducted on the entire multilayer, to the corresponding carboxylic acid function. A combined chemical-structural analysis of data furnished by four different techniques, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), synchrotron X-ray scattering, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and contact angle measurements, demonstrates that the highly ordered 3D molecular arrangement of the initial alcohol-silane multilayer stack is well preserved upon virtually quantitative conversion of the alcohol to carboxylic acid and the concomitant irreversible cleavage of interlayer covalent bonds. Thus, the correlation of quantitative chemical and structural data obtained from such unreacted and fully reacted film samples offers an unprecedented experimental framework within which it becomes possible to differentiate between intralayer and interlayer covalent bonding. In addition, the use of a sufficiently thick multilayer effectively eliminates the interfering contributions of the underlying silicon oxide substrate to both the X-ray scattering and XPS data. The present findings contribute a firm experimental basis to the elucidation of the self-assembly mechanism, the molecular organization, and the modes and dynamics of intra- and interlayer bonding prevailing in highly ordered organosilane films; with further implications for the rational exploitation of some of the unique options such supramolecular surface entities can offer in the advancement of a chemical nanofabrication methodology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials and Interface, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Rivka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maoz
authors.forename: Hagai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sagiv
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gibaud
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Desert
authors.forename: Benjamin M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Ocko
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D012821:Silanes / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D012821:Silanes