Partial Desorption of Alkanethiol Monolayer from Gold Substrate Modified with Ag and Cu

Abstract

In our previous studies, it was found that underpotential deposition (UPD) of Ag or Cu on an Au electrode coated with a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of alkanethiol enhanced stability of the monolayer against its reductive desorption in an alkaline solution. Degree of the stabilization effect was higher for the Cu UPD than the Ag UPD. By utilizing such the behavior, a new method to induce partial desorption of the SAM has been developed in this study. This method enables easy changes in the ratio of thiol-free areas, and numerous pores can be generated in the monolayer when the ratio of the thiol-free areas was small.