Effects of Concentration and Temperature on the Formation Process of Decanethiol self-assembled monolayer on Au(111) Followed by Electrochemical Reductive Desorption

The formation process of self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of decanethiol (C10SH) on Au(111) single crystal electrode has been investigated for wide range of C10SH concentration (0.1 M ∼ 500 M) and temperature (253 K ∼ 298 K). The amount and quality of C10SH SAM were determined from area and position, respectively, of reductive desorption peak of the SAM modified Au(111) electrode measured in 0.5 M KOH aqueous solution. The kinetic analysis indicates that SAM formation proceeded by two steps, diffusion limited physisorption followed by chemisorption.