Mapping mechanical properties of organic thin films by force-modulation microscopy in aqueous media

• Jianming Zhang,
• Zehra Parlak,
• Carleen M. Bowers,
• Terrence Oas and
• Stefan Zauscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 464–474, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.53

• , including surface plasmon resonance (SPR) [58], quartz-crystal microbalance (QCM) [59][60][61] and ellipsometry [62]. These methods, however, do not resolve differences in the grafting density and packing of the molecules with high spatial resolution (micrometer or less). Here we show that FMM in solution

Variations in the structure and reactivity of thioester functionalized self-assembled monolayers and their use for controlled surface modification

• Inbal Aped,
• Yacov Mazuz and
• Chaim N. Sukenik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 213–220, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.24

• unless otherwise indicated. Contact angle goniometry, spectroscopic ellipsometry, XPS, ATR–FTIR, were all carried out as previously described [11][12]. Syntheses ω-Undecenylbromide was prepared as follows: In a round-bottom flask (500 mL) equipped with a magnetic stirring bar were placed CH2Cl2 (100 mL

• in Supporting Information File 1. Monolayer preparation Silicon wafers (for ellipsometry and ATR–FTIR measurements) and quartz wafers (for UV and XPS measurements) were cleaned and activated as previously reported [12] and used as substrates for depositing siloxane-anchored SAMs based on compounds 1

• –4. The SAMs were characterized by contact angle, ATR–FTIR, UV–vis, ellipsometry, and XPS. These characterization tools were applied (as previously reported [12]) both on the directly deposited SAMs and on those that had been subjected to the oxidation reactions reported herein. General procedures

Direct-write polymer nanolithography in ultra-high vacuum

• Woo-Kyung Lee,
• Minchul Yang,
• Arnaldo R. Laracuente,
• William P. King,
• Lloyd J. Whitman and
• Paul E. Sheehan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 52–56, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.6

• ellipsometry). After placing the chip briefly under vacuum in a load lock chamber (~10−7 Torr), no ODT film was detectable. Additional attempts with less volatile inks – such as eicosanethiol – yielded similar results, leading us to conclude that typical inks used in conventional DPN cannot be used for DPN

Direct monitoring of opto-mechanical switching of self-assembled monolayer films containing the azobenzene group

• Einat Tirosh,
• Enrico Benassi,
• Silvio Pipolo,
• Marcel Mayor,
• Michal Valášek,
• Veronica Frydman,
• Stefano Corni and
• Sidney R. Cohen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 834–844, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.93

• ); ESI–MS (m/z): [M − 1]+ 365.09. Monolayer preparation Gold substrate preparation: AFM images of the different substrates are shown in Figure 8. Three types of gold substrates were used. For basic characterization of the monolayers (ellipsometry, AFM topography, XPS), a 150 nm gold film was prepared on

• (DMF) at room temperature for 24 h. After adsorption, the samples were rinsed with pure DMF and ethanol and blown dry with nitrogen. The monolayer quality was verified by ellipsometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and AFM. Ellipsometry Ellipsometric measurements were carried out with a variable

Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopic imaging of patterned thiol monolayers

• Johannes Stadler,
• Thomas Schmid,
• Lothar Opilik,
• Phillip Kuhn,
• Petra S. Dittrich and
• Renato Zenobi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 509–515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.55

• considerable Raman intensity changes, thus flat gold films are an ideal substrate to minimize the STM feedback changes and distance related artifacts. Previous studies on self-assembled thiol films were conducted using AFM [13], STM [15][24][25], XPS and Ellipsometry [26] as well as Raman spectroscopy [27][28

Sensing surface PEGylation with microcantilevers

• Natalija Backmann,
• Natascha Kappeler,
• Thomas Braun,
• François Huber,
• Hans-Peter Lang,
• Christoph Gerber and
• Roderick Y. H. Lim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 3–13, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.2

• conformation of a surface-grafted PEG layer, and how this might influence its interfacial properties may prove beneficial towards optimizing the PEGylation process. Although techniques such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) [6][7] and ellipsometry [8] have been proven powerful in terms of studying

• chains into their swelling state. Discussion We have studied the behavior of 20 kDa mPEG–SH “grafted to” Au surfaces using a microcantilever array-based sensor. Consistent with XPS [8], ellipsometry [8][34], QCM [35] and AFM [36] polymer “grafting to” studies, we find that the adsorption profile of mPEG