Organic functionalization of germanium nanowires using arenediazonium salts

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Date
2011-03-04
Authors
Collins, Gillian
Fleming, Peter G.
O'Dwyer, Colm
Morris, Michael A.
Holmes, Justin D.
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American Chemical Society (ACS)
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Research Projects
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Abstract
The formation of organic functionalization layers on germanium (Ge) nanowires was investigated using a new synthetic protocol employing arenediazonium salts. Oxide-free, H-terminated Ge nanowires were immersed in diazonium salt/acetonitrile solutions and the molecular interface of the functionalized nanowires was analyzed by reflectance infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The morphology of the modified nanowires was investigated by electron microscopy. Surface functionalization of the nanowires was found to be slow at room temperature, but proceeded efficiently with moderate heating (50 °C). The use of arenediazonium salts can result in the formation of aryl multilayers, however the thickness and uniformity of the organic layer was found to be strongly influenced by the nature of the substituents on the aromatic ring. Substituents attached to the 3-, 4-, and 5-ring positions hindered the formation of multilayers, while the presence of sterically bulky ring substituents affected the homogeneity of the organic layers. We successfully demonstrate that arenediazonium salts are very flexible precursors for nanowire functionalization, with the possibility to covalently attach a wide variety of aromatic ligands, offering the potential to alter the thickness of the resulting outer organic shell.
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Keywords
Nanomaterials , Semiconductors , Surface and interfacial phenomena
Citation
Collins, G., Fleming, P., O’Dwyer, C., Morris, M. A. and Holmes, J. D. (2011) 'Organic Functionalization of Germanium Nanowires using Arenediazonium Salts', Chemistry of Materials, 23(7), pp. 1883-1891. doi: 10.1021/cm103573m
Copyright
© 2011 American Chemical Society. This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Chemistry of Materials, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/cm103573m