Nanoscale film structure related to capacitive effects in ethylene-glycol monolayers

A large improvement of the electrochemical capacitive detection of ssDNA and antigens by using ethylene-glycol alkanethiol monolayers has been recently demonstrated. Alkanethiol monolayers without ethylene-glycol functionalization do not show the required electrochemical stability. In this paper, we demonstrate that both phenomena are related to their morphological structure at nano-scale. Ethylene-glycol monolayers were compared with similar films without ethylene-glycol function. Capacitance measurements were used to verify the improved capacitance stability of the electrochemical interface. AFM images were used to investigate films packing and morphology at the nano-scale. This letter demonstrates that films without ethylene-glycol segment present deep grooves which are related to electrochemical instability while the improvement in case of ethylene-glycols is due to the absence of such a feature. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.