Elastic and adhesive properties of alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers on gold

Published

March 30, 2009

Author(s)

Frank W. DelRio, Cherno Jaye, Daniel A. Fischer, Robert F. Cook

Abstract

Elastic and adhesive properties of alkanethiol (CH3(CH2)n 1SH) self-assembled monolayers on gold are investigated by atomic force microscopy and correlated with surface structure via near edge x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. As the chain length n decreases from 18 to 5, the elastic modulus of the monolayer film, Ef, decreases from 1.0 GPa to 0.15 GPa and the work of adhesion, w, increases from 82.8 mJ m−2 to 168.3 mJ m−2. The Ef and w trends are interpreted in terms of the dichroic ratios, RI, which reveal distinct changes in chain orientation, order, and coverage over the range of n.

Citation

Applied Physics Letters

Volume

94

Issue

13

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

atomic force microscopy, mechanical properties, self-assembled monolayers

Citation

DelRio, F. , Jaye, C. , Fischer, D. and Cook, R. (2009), Elastic and adhesive properties of alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers on gold, Applied Physics Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=901545 (Accessed October 17, 2025)