The field of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) has witnessed tremendous growth in synthetic sophistication and depth of characterization over the past 15 years.1 However, it is interesting to comment on the modest beginning and on important milestones. The field really began much earlier than is now recognized. In 1946 Zisman published the preparation of a monomolecular layer by adsorption (self-assembly) of a surfactant onto a clean metal surface.2 At that time, the potential of self-assembly was not recognized, and this publication initiated only a limited level of interest. Early work initiated in Kuhn’s laboratory at Gottingen, applying many years of experience in using chlorosilane derivative to hydrophobize glass, was followed by the more recent discovery, when Nuzzo and Allara showed that SAMs of alkanethiolates on gold can be prepared by adsorption of di-n-alkyl disulfides from dilute solutions.3 Getting away from the moisture-sensitive alkyl trichlorosilanes, as well as working with crystalline gold surfaces, were two important reasons for the success of these SAMs. Many self-assembly systems have since been investigated, but monolayers of alkanethiolates on gold are probably the most studied SAMs to date. The formation of monolayers by self-assembly of surfactant molecules at surfaces is one example of the general phenomena of self-assembly. In nature, self-assembly results in supermolecular hierarchical organizations of interlocking components that provides very complex systems.4 SAMs offer unique opportunities to increase fundamental understanding of self-organization, structure-property relationships, and interfacial phenomena. The ability to tailor both head and tail groups of the constituent molecules makes SAMs excellent systems for a more fundamental understanding of phenomena affected by competing intermolecular, molecular-substrates and molecule-solvent interactions like ordering and growth, wetting, adhesion, lubrication, and corrosion. That SAMs are well-defined and accessible makes them good model systems for studies of physical chemistry and statistical physics in two dimensions, and the crossover to three dimensions. SAMs provide the needed design flexibility, both at the individual molecular and at the material levels, and offer a vehicle for investigation of specific interactions at interfaces, and of the effect of increasing molecular complexity on the structure and stability of two-dimensional assemblies. These studies may eventually produce the design capabilities needed for assemblies of three-dimensional structures.5 However, this will require studies of more complex systems and the combination of what has been learned from SAMs with macromolecular science. The exponential growth in SAM research is a demonstration of the changes chemistry as a disciAbraham Ulman was born in Haifa, Israel, in 1946. He studied chemistry in the Bar-Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel, and received his B.Sc. in 1969. He received his M.Sc. in phosphorus chemistry from Bar-Ilan University in 1971. After a brief period in industry, he moved to the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, and received his Ph.D. in 1978 for work on heterosubstituted porphyrins. He then spent two years at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where his main interest was onedimensional organic conductors. In 1985 he joined the Corporate Research Laboratories of Eastman Kodak Company, in Rochester, NY, where his research interests were molecular design of materials for nonlinear optics and self-assembled monolayers. In 1994 he moved to Polytechnic University where he is the Alstadt-Lord-Mark Professor of Chemistry. His interests encompass self-assembled monolayers, surface engineering, polymers at interface, and surfaces phenomena. 1533 Chem. Rev. 1996, 96, 1533−1554

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Formation and Structure of Self-Assembled Monolayers.

The presence of two sulfur species was detected in X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies of thiol and disulfide molecules adsorbed onto gold surfaces. These species are assigned to bound thiolate (S2p3/2 binding energy of 162 eV) and unbound thiol/disulfide (S2p3/2 binding energy from 163.5 to 164 eV). These assignments are consistent with XPS data obtained from different thiols (C12, C16, C18, and C22 alkane thiols, a fluorinated thiol, and a cyclic polysiloxane thiol) and different adsorption conditions (solvent type, thiol concentration, temperature, and rinsing). In particular, the use of a poor solvent for thiol adsorption solutions (e.g., ethanol for long chain alkanethiols) and the lack of a rinsing step both resulted in unbound thiol molecules present at the surface of the bound thiolate monolayer. This has implications for recent studies asserting the presence of multiple binding sites for gold−thiolate species in organic monolayers.

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy sulfur 2p study of organic thiol and disulfide binding interactions with gold surfaces

Sum-frequency spectroscopy (SFS) is a non-linear optical technique that yields vibrational spectra of molecules at interfaces. A brief summary of the theoretical background to SFS is provided and the origin of its unusual selection rules is explained. The application of SFS to the study of organic molecules at the solid/liquid interface is reviewed. Areas covered include liquid structure at solid surfaces, electrochemistry and the adsorption of surfactants at the solid/water interface.

Sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy of the solid/liquid interface

We report calculations of the vibrational energies of CO–Cu(100) using a new code to perform vibrational self-consistent field (VSCF) and state-mixing calculations for many-mode systems. The major new feature of the code is the representation of the potential. Unlike recent implementations of the VSCF method, the potential is not expanded in terms of normal coordinates as a multinomial series about a minimum. The full potential, in normal coordinates, is used in the Watson Hamiltonian. This approach, while rigorous, can lead to prohibitively large numerical quadratures, and so we suggest a novel representation of the potential as an expansion in all two-mode, or all three-mode, or all four-mode coupling terms. The new code is tested against previous exact calculations of vibrational states of HCO, and also against previous VSCF calculations that used a fourth-order, normal coordinate force field representation of the global HCO potential. The new code is applied to calculations of the vibrations of CO ads...

Vibrational self-consistent field method for many-mode systems: A new approach and application to the vibrations of CO adsorbed on Cu(100)

Room-temperature ionic liquids are a new class of liquids with many important uses in electrical and electrochemical devices. The liquids are composed purely of ions in the liquid state with no solvent. They generally have good electrical and ionic conductivity and are electrochemically stable. Since their applications often depend critically on the interface structure of the liquid adjacent to the electrode, a molecular level description is necessary to understanding and improving their performance. There are currently no adequate models or descriptions on the organization of the ions, in these pure ionic compounds, adjacent to the electrode surface. In normal electrolytic solutions, the organization of solvent and ions is adequately described by the Gouy-Chapman-Sterns model. However, this model is based on the same concepts as those in Debye-Huckel theory, that is a dilute electrolyte, where ions are well-separated and noninteracting. This is definitely not the situation for ionic liquids. Thus our goal was to investigate the ionic liquid-metal interface using surface-specific vibrational spectroscopy sum frequency generation, SFG. This technique can probe the metal-liquid interface without interference from the bulk electrolyte. Thus the interface is probed in situ while the electrode potential is changed. To compliment the vibrational spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is used to measure the capacitance and estimate the "double layer" thickness and the potential of zero charge (PZC). In addition, the vibrational Stark shift of CO adsorbed on the Pt electrode was measured to provide an independent measure of the "double layer" thickness. All techniques were measured as a function of applied potential to provide full description of the interface for a variety of imidazolium-based (cation) ionic liquids. The vibrational Stark shift and EIS results suggest that ions organize in a Helmholtz-like layer at the interface, where the potential drop occurs over the a range of 3-5 A from the metal surface into the liquid. Further, the SFG results imply that the "double layer" structure is potential-dependent; At potentials positive of the PZC, anions adsorbed to the surface and the imidazolium ring are repelled to orient more along the surface normal, compared with the potentials negative of the PZC, at which the cation is oriented more parallel to the surface plane and the anions are repelled from the surface. The results present a view of the ionic liquid-metal electrode interface having a very thin "double layer" structure where the ions form a single layer at the surface to screen the electrode charge. However, the results also raise many other fundamental questions as to the detailed nature of the interfacial structure and interpretations of both electrochemical and spectroscopic data.

Surface Structure at the Ionic Liquid−Electrified Metal Interface

Vibrational energy relaxation of the internal C–O stretching mode of carbon monoxide in the c(2×2) overlayer on the Cu(100) surface at 120 K is measured by picosecond pump–probe spectroscopy. A resonant 1.5 ps infrared pulse at ν=2085 cm−1 pumps the C–O stretching mode. The energy relaxation is monitored by sum frequency generation from a delayed pair of 1.5 ps infrared and visible pulses. A single component decay, with a decay time of 2.0 ±0.5 ps, is reported. Uncertainties in the actual excited state lifetime are discussed, and the actual lifetime is estimated to be 2.0 ±1.0 ps. This lifetime is close to the lower limit of 1.2 ps set by the observed vibrational linewidth of 4.5 cm−1. The energy relaxation process is interpreted to occur by nonadiabatic energy transfer to the electrons (electron‐hole pair excitations) of the copper substrate, and the measurement supports previous assertions that the nonadiabatic energy transfer rate for this system is very rapid. The nonadiabatic energy transfer lifetime of this mode has previously been estimated by density‐functional calculations [T. T. Rantala and A. Rosen, Phys. Rev. B 34, 837 (1986)], and has recently been calculated by extrapolation of ab initio Hartree–Fock electronic structure calculations for CO on copper clusters [M. Head‐Gordon and J. Tully, preceding paper, J. Chem. Phys. 96, 3939 (1992)]. The calculated lifetimes in both cases are in the 1–3 ps range, in good agreement with the experimentally measured value.

Vibrational energy transfer of CO/Cu(100): Nonadiabatic vibration/electron coupling

Multiple digital data pages (480 kbits per page) were holographically recorded and retrieved with low bit-error rates in thick (?250? and ?500?µm) photopolymer media. The photopolymer systems were fabricated with the optical quality and low level of scatter required for digital data storage. We believe that these results represent the first demonstration of holographic storage of high-capacity digital data pages in photopolymer media with the thickness that will be required for such storage densities.

Holographic storage of multiple high-capacity digital data pages in thick photopolymer systems.

The lifetime of the first excited level of the symmetric C‐H stretching mode of methyl thiolate (CH3S) bonded to Ag(1 1 1) is measured by populating the level with a picosecond infrared pulse and probing the population by transient sum frequency generation spectroscopy. The population transient shows a biexponential decay across the experimental temperature range from 110 to 380 K. The fast decay component has a lifetime of 2.5–3 ps at all temperatures. The slow relaxation component lifetime varies from 55 ps at 380 K to 90 ps at 110 K. Neither relaxation component shows decay rates that are compatible with direct energy transfer to phonons or electron‐hole pairs of the metal substrate. Both relaxation components are instead assigned to intramolecular energy transfer to excited vibrational levels of other vibrational modes of the molecule.

Vibrational energy relaxation of a polyatomic adsorbate on a metal surface: Methyl thiolate (CH3S) on Ag(111)

We report measurements of excited‐state lifetimes for Si–H stretching vibrational modes of steps and terraces on chemically prepared, hydrogen‐terminated vicinal Si(111) surfaces using picosecond pump–probe surface spectroscopy. The steps present on these vicinal surfaces are shown to play an important role in the vibrational energy relaxation pathways. Three types of vicinal Si(111) surfaces are studied, all having monohydride‐terminated terraces but differing in step termination or in step density. Two surfaces are cut along the 〈112〉 direction, 9° and 5° from the (111) plane, respectively. Both of these surfaces have dihydride‐terminated steps. A third surface is cut 9° from the (111) plane along the 〈112〉 direction and has monohydride‐terminated steps. Two normal modes of the dihydride‐terminated steps show vibrational energy relaxation times of ∼100 ps [≤80 ps and 130(20) ps, uncertainty in parentheses], while the monohydride‐terminated steps relax 10 times more slowly with an 1100(120) ps lifetim...

Vibrational energy transfer on hydrogen‐terminated vicinal Si(111) surfaces: Interadsorbate energy flow

Picosecond time‐resolved measurements of vibrational energy relaxation from ν=1 to ν=0 for C–H stretching modes of the terminal methyl group in 9 Cd stearate Langmuir–Blodgett monolayer on an evaporated silver film were made The experiments used infrared–visible sum spectroscopy to dynamically probe vibrational level populations To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first direct measurement of vibrational energy relaxation for molecular adsorbates at a bulk metal surface Multicomponent decay processes with lifetimes of 3 ps to >1 ns indicate complex intramolecular vibrational energy transfer processes in these ordered monolayer films, which may be different than for similar molecules in liquids

N. J. Levinos

Papers

Vibrational energy transfer of CO/Cu(100): Nonadiabatic vibration/electron coupling

Holographic storage of multiple high-capacity digital data pages in thick photopolymer systems.

Vibrational energy relaxation of a polyatomic adsorbate on a metal surface: Methyl thiolate (CH3S) on Ag(111)

Vibrational energy transfer on hydrogen‐terminated vicinal Si(111) surfaces: Interadsorbate energy flow

Vibrational energy relaxation in a molecular monolayer at a metal surface