Organothiol Monolayer Formation Directly on Muscovite Mica

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2020 Feb 3;59(6):2323-2327. doi: 10.1002/anie.201913327. Epub 2019 Dec 18.

Abstract

Organothiol monolayers on metal substrates (Au, Ag, Cu) and their use in a wide variety of applications have been extensively studied. Here, the growth of layers of organothiols directly onto muscovite mica is demonstrated using a simple procedure. Atomic force microscopy, surface X-ray diffraction, and vibrational sum-frequency generation IR spectroscopy studies revealed that organothiols with various functional endgroups could be self-assembled into (water) stable and adaptable ultra-flat organothiol monolayers over homogenous areas as large as 1 cm2 . The strength of the mica-organothiol interactions could be tuned by exchanging the potassium surface ions for copper ions. Several of these organothiol monolayers were subsequently used as a template for calcite growth.

Keywords: calcite; monolayers; muscovite mica; organothiol; surface chemistry.