Selfassembly of α,ω‐dithiols on surfaces and metal dithiol heterostructures

Abstract

α,ω‐Dithiols present an interesting case of molecules with two reactive terminal ‐SH groups (HS‐R‐SH) that allow their use as binders between different metallic entities. They have thus been used in molecular electronics conduction measurements, in “nanogap” electrodes of interest in plasmonics, as building blocks of more complex structures such as metal intercalated superlattices and in the formation of metalized organic thin films, including doped graphene type films. There exist however many problems, because the molecules may end up in undesirable configurations with both thiol terminals bound to the same metal particle/substrate or link with other molecules to produce “multi‐molecule” or “multilayer” structures. This report discusses various key questions on dithiol linking with metal surfaces and the quest of protocols of making problem free dithiol metal structures. It then describes the use of dithiols and their SAMs to produce various metal organic heterostructures useful for molecular electronics and formation of doped metalized organic thin films. We discuss the build up of these structures by self assembly and lithography, their chemical composition and functional properties. image