Azmi, Mandana and De Bonis, Enrico and Guin, Saurav K. and Ashton, Lorna and Mertens, Stijn F.L. (2024) A new look at metal–carbon hybrids: molecular-scale study of covalently grafted gold. Electrochimica Acta, 500: 144743. ISSN 0013-4686
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
The reliable integration of new nanocarbons in future molecular and hybrid electronics requires mastery of chemical binding between dissimilar materials down to the individual bond. Here, we present a detailed study of covalent grafting of aryl radicals on single crystal Au(111), and investigate their electrochemical stability and oxidative desorption. Copper underpotential deposition and Gaussian deconvolution of its current–potential trace are used to map the thermodynamic and kinetic landscape of the modified Au surface. Scanning tunnelling microscopy in a high-boiling organic solvent suggests that grafting is accompanied by vacancy island formation on the Au surface, while iodide adsorption heals these vacancies and allows high-contrast imaging of individual covalent grafts.