Rizza, R;Fitzmaurice, D;Hearne, S;Hughes, G;Spoto, G;Ciliberto, E;Kerp, H;Schropp, R

1997

December

Chemistry of Materials

Self-assembly of monolayers of semiconductor nanocrystallites

Published

54 ()

ORGANIZED MOLECULAR ASSEMBLIES TIO2 THIN-FILMS PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS POLYCRYSTALLINE TIO2 ELECTRON-TRANSFER FUNCTIONAL-GROUPS METAL-SURFACES GOLD SURFACES SPECTROSCOPY ELECTROCHEMISTRY

9

2969

2982

Described is the self-assembly of a monolayer of TiO2 nanocrystallites on a gold substrate by two related methods. In the first of these methods, a crystalline monolayer of the functionalized thiol HS-(CH2)(10)-COOH is self-assembled at an annealed gold substrate by adsorption from ethanolic solution. The modified gold substrate is then immersed in an ethanolic TiO2 colloid. TiO2 nanocrystallites are adsorbed at the terminal -COOH group of the molecules constituting the monolayer. In the second of these methods, an ethanolic colloid of TiO2 nanocrystallites is prepared in the presence of the functionalized thiol HS(CH2)(10)-COOH. The modified nanocrystallites are adsorbed at the surface of an annealed gold substrate. For each method, there is some evidence for short-range ordering of the nanocrystallites constituting the close-packed monolayer adsorbed at the gold substrate. Some potential applications of these methods are considered.

WASHINGTON

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