A simple vaporous probe with atomic-scale sensitivity to structural ordering and orientation of molecular assembly.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the structural ordering and orientation of interfacial molecular assemblies requires an insight into the penetration depth of the probe molecules which determines the interfacial reactivity. In contrast to the conventional liquid probe-based contact angle measurement in which penetration depth is complicated by the liquid cohesive interaction, we report here a new approach that features a simple combination of vaporous hexane, which involves only van der Waals interaction, and quartz crystal microbalance operated at the third harmonic resonance, which is sensitive to sub-monolayer (0.2%) adsorption. Using this combination, we demonstrated the ability of probing the structural ordering and orientation of the self-assembled monolayers with a sensitivity from penetrating the top

SUBMITTER: Cheng HW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6677115 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature