Self Assembly of n-Alkanethiolate Monolayers on Silver Nano-Structures:Protective Encapsulation

摘要

Silver nanostructures having dimensions of 200-1000A in diameter and 2O-5OA inheight were synthesized on graphite surfaces using the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Although these nanostructures were stable while immersed in aqueous solutions containing small (0.5 mM) concentrations of Ag+, upon transfer into pure water, dissolution of the nanostructure occurred within 30 minutes, irrespective of the applied imaging bias up to +200 mV. Anodic dissolution was inhibited following the formation of an n-alkane thiolate self-assembled