Spectroscopic and electrochemical studies of coordination of organic molecules to gold single crystal surfaces

This lecture gives a review of our efforts to describe adsorption of organic molecules at gold electrodes. First, we will discuss adsorption of pyridine and benzonitrile at the Au(111) electrode surface. We will combine chronocoulometric, and in situ infrared spectroscopy to describe; (i) energetics of molecular adsorption at the gold electrode surface, (ii) character of the interaction of the adsorbed molecule with the metal substrate and (iii) influence of the electric field on the orientation of the adsorbed molecule. Next, we will describe atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies of surface aggregation phenomena We will demonstrate that surfactant molecules form Van der Waals clusters at the electrode surface and that the structure and stability of these clusters can be controlled by the potential (charge) applied to the electrode surface.