Study of Self-Assembled Monolayers
Au111 thin films are used for studies of ultrathin overlayers such as self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) taking advantage of the large flat gold terraces. SAMs are the most elementary form of a nanometer-scale organic thin film material and are prepared by immersing the gold substrates in solutions containing the relevant molecules. The adsorbates organize then spontaneously into crystalline or semicrystalline structures. See for example M. Wanunu et al., Journal of the American Chemical Society (2004), 126(17), 5569-5576.
An example of a scanning tunnelling microscopy study of SAMs of short carboxyl-terminated molecules on Au(111) thin films can be found under the following reference: C. Dubois and F. Stellacci, J. Phys. Chem. C, 112, 7431 (2008).
An example of a study of the reaction of O(3P) atoms with Alkylthiol Self-assembled Monolayers can be found under the following reference: Carla Waring, Paul A. J. Bagot, Minna T. Räisänen, Matthew L. Costen, and Kenneth G. McKendrick, J. Phys. Chem. A, 113, 4320 (2009).
Au(111) thin films are very useful for scanning probe microscopy (SPM) calibration purposes using the gold terraces unit cell steps of 2.36 Å.
Teaching and Presentations
Au(111) thin films are used for scanning probe microscopy (SPM) studies for educational purposes. Gold on mica samples are ideal for letting students learn about SPM. It is indeed relatively easy to get nice atomic force microscopy (AFM) or scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) images with those substrates. For ideas and informations on educational news and events in nanotechnology, visit the website of Nanoscience.