| 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. |
| Source: UPI |
