Electrochemically grafted single molecule junctions exploiting a chemical protection strategy



Liang, Jinghong, Smith, Robert EG, Vezzoli, Andrea ORCID: 0000-0002-8059-0113, Xie, Liqiang, Milan, David C ORCID: 0000-0002-2077-7920, Davidson, Ross, Beeby, Andrew, Low, Paul J, Higgins, Simon J ORCID: 0000-0003-3518-9061, Mao, Bingwei
et al (show 1 more authors) (2016) Electrochemically grafted single molecule junctions exploiting a chemical protection strategy. ELECTROCHIMICA ACTA, 220. pp. 436-443.

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Abstract

Diazonium grafted oligo(phenylene ethynylene) (OPE) monolayers suitable for single molecule conductance studies have been prepared. The surface-bound OPE is prepared from the amino tolan, 4-(2-(4-(2-(triisopropylsilyl)ethynyl)phenyl)ethynyl)benzamine, which is converted to the diazonium derivative in situ, and subsequently attached to a gold substrate using conventional cathodic electrochemical grafting. Multilayer formation is avoided by the presence of the bulky triisopropylsilyl (TIPS) protected ethynyl group. After removal of the TIPS group by treatment with fluoride, the film, now bearing exposed terminal acetylene moieties, is further functionalised by reaction with 1-iodo-4-acetylthiobenzene using Sonogashira coupling chemistry, to create sites bearing a strongly aurophilic top-contacting group. The success of these surface reactions is confirmed using Raman spectroscopy (gap-mode and SHINERS, employing gold nanoparticles and SiO2 coated gold nanoparticles, respectively). It is shown that such thiolate-modified, diazonium-grafted monolayers are suitable for STM-based molecular junction conductance measurements.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Electrochemically grafted single molecule junctions exploiting a chemical protection strategy journaltitle: Electrochimica Acta articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2016.10.095 content_type: article copyright: © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Uncontrolled Keywords: STM, single molecule conductance, diazonium grafting, SHINERS, Raman spectroscopy
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 17 Nov 2016 12:10
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 07:25
DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2016.10.095
Open Access URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S...
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URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3004554