Vinylferrocene-Terminated Si(111) Prepared in Diethyl Ether and Dibutyl Ether Grafting Media

Abstract

Vinylferrocene-terminated Si(111) was prepared by illuminating visible light onto a hydrogen-terminated Si(111) surface that was immersed in either diethyl ether-vinylferrocene or dibutyl ether-vinylferrocene solution. The use of either diethyl ether or dibutyl ether as grafting medium yielded a neutral ferrocenyl monolayer that was electrically connected with the silicon substrate. Both preparation media produce samples that have good electrochemical characteristics e.g., low peak potential separation and linear plot of peak current density with scan rate. The use of dibutyl ether as grafting solution resulted to a fast grafting rate, in which the optimum grafting time for samples with n-type and p-type substrates were 0.5 h and 1 h, respectively. Meanwhile, the use of diethyl ether resulted to the presence of lumps of deposited materials on the grafted surface. Nevertheless, even if these materials may be considered as impurities, these did not distort significantly the electrochemical characteristics of the sample.