We demonstrate that weak chemical interactions between untethered moieties in molecular nanolayers on metal surfaces can strongly influence the effective work function Φeff. Electron spectroscopy shows that nanolayers of mercaptan-anchored organophosphonates on Au and Pt decrease Φeff. The measured Φeff shifts correlate with the chemical state of phosphonic acid moieties, and scale with molecular length. These results are contrary to predictions of ab initio calculations of monolayer-capped surfaces, but are consistent with calculations of bilayer-capped surfaces with face-to-face hydrogen-bonded phosphonic acid moieties. Our findings indicate that intra-layer bonding and layering in molecular nanolayers can be key to tailoring heterointerfacial electronic properties for applications.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
25 August 2014
Research Article|
August 25 2014
Tuning of noble metal work function with organophosphonate nanolayers
Ganpati Ramanath;
Ganpati Ramanath
a)
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
, Troy, New York 12180, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
Matthew Kwan;
Matthew Kwan
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
, Troy, New York 12180, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
P. K. Chow;
P. K. Chow
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
, Troy, New York 12180, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
Y. Cardona Quintero;
Y. Cardona Quintero
2Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
University of Connecticut
, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
P. H. Mutin;
P. H. Mutin
3
Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier
, UMR 5253 CNRS-IM2-ENSCM-UM1, Université Montpellier 2, CC 1701, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
Search for other works by this author on:
R. Ramprasad
R. Ramprasad
2Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
University of Connecticut
, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
a)
Email: Ramanath@rpi.edu
Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 081601 (2014)
Article history
Received:
December 21 2013
Accepted:
July 06 2014
Citation
Ganpati Ramanath, Matthew Kwan, P. K. Chow, Y. Cardona Quintero, P. H. Mutin, R. Ramprasad; Tuning of noble metal work function with organophosphonate nanolayers. Appl. Phys. Lett. 25 August 2014; 105 (8): 081601. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4890486
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Pay-Per-View Access
$40.00
Citing articles via
Special topic on Wide- and ultrawide-bandgap electronic semiconductor devices
Joachim Würfl, Tomás Palacios, et al.
Roadmap on photonic metasurfaces
Sebastian A. Schulz, Rupert. F. Oulton, et al.
Feedback cooling of an insulating high-Q diamagnetically levitated plate
S. Tian, K. Jadeja, et al.