| Posted: March 24, 2009 |
Carboranes - a new family of self-assembled-monolayer materials |
|
(Nanowerk News) U.S. scientists say they have found a way to control the geometry and stability of a new family of self-assembled-monolayer materials called carboranes.
|
|
The Pennsylvania State University researchers said the exceptionally high quality and simplicity of the improved carboranes opens up new capabilities in selective patterning and control, and new possibilities for applications.
|
|
They said a tailored carborane film just one-nanometer or two-nanometers in height completely changes the chemical, physical, and biological properties of the surface on which it is applied.
|
|
The Penn State scientists said they discovered a way to control geometry and stability by making self-assembled monolayers from different carboranethiol isomers.
|
|
"Our results allow us to control the chemical and physical properties of the (self-assembled monolayer) without changing its structure," said Professor Paul Weiss, who led the study.
|
|
The scientists said they are trying to come up with simple and economical means to control the chemistry of a surface all the way from the wafer scale (several centimeters) to the single-molecule scale (sub-nanometer).
|
|
Weiss, his lab group and Viktor Balema, a product manager at the Sigma-Aldrich Co, said they plan to continue their work to develop a library of carboranethiols that can be used to make novel nanostructures and nanodevices.
The research appears in the journal ACS Nano.
|
