Generation of two-dimensional ordered domains of gold mediated by pentacosadiynoic acid

Two-dimensional ordered domains of gold were obtained on the hydrophilic surface of polymerized 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid (poly-PCDA) monolayer. Instead of the classical physical methods. such as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and low pressure evaporation, a 'wet' chemical method based on the Langmuir-Blodgett technique was employed. The structure was probed by STM and found to have a quasi-rectangular lattice, with the shorter lattice spacing constant at 0.37+/-0.02 nm, and the longer at 0.51+/-0.02 nm, The structure, which was stable within 24 h, contains at least 60 atoms within one domain. A possible model was also put forward based on the structural correlation between the gold atomic monolayer and the hydrophilic surface of the polymer substrate. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.