Clicking ferrocene to halogenated boron-doped diamond surfaces

Abstract

The halogenated boron-doped diamond (BDD) surfaces were reacted with sodium azide through a nucleophilic substitution reaction. The resulting azide-terminated BDD surfaces were used to trigger the “click” reaction. Because of the attractive electrochemical properties of ferrocene-containing molecules, such as fast electron transfer rates, reversible redox activities, and favorable redox potentials, we show that ferrocene derivatives can be grafted onto non-oxidized diamond surfaces by “click chemistry”. These redox-active ferrocene-containing layers on a BDD surface, because of their ability to store and release charges reversibly, have the potential to be used as hybrid molecular/semiconductor memory devices. The halogenated boron-doped diamond surfaces were reacted with sodium azide through a nucleophilic substitution reaction. The resulting azide-terminated boron-doped diamond surfaces (N3-BDD) were used to trigger the “click” reaction. We show here that ferrocene derivatives can be grafted onto non-oxidized diamond surfaces by “click chemistry”. These redox-active ferrocene-containing layers on a boron-doped diamond (BDD) surface, because of their ability to store and release charges reversibly, have the potential to be used as hybrid molecular/semiconductor memory devices.