Quantifying thiol–gold interactions towards the efficient strength control

Yurui Xue, Xun Li, Hongbin Li and Wenke Zhang ()
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Yurui Xue: State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University
Xun Li: State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University
Hongbin Li: University of British Columbia
Wenke Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The strength of the thiol–gold interactions provides the basis to fabricate robust self-assembled monolayers for diverse applications. Investigation on the stability of thiol–gold interactions has thus become a hot topic. Here we use atomic force microscopy to quantify the stability of individual thiol–gold contacts formed both by isolated single thiols and in self-assembled monolayers on gold surface. Our results show that the oxidized gold surface can enhance greatly the stability of gold–thiol contacts. In addition, the shift of binding modes from a coordinate bond to a covalent bond with the change in environmental pH and interaction time has been observed experimentally. Furthermore, isolated thiol–gold contact is found to be more stable than that in self-assembled monolayers. Our findings revealed mechanisms to control the strength of thiol–gold contacts and will help guide the design of thiol–gold contacts for a variety of practical applications.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5348

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