Combining electrochemical desorption and metal deposition on patterned self-assembled monolayers

We have combined electrochemical reductive desorption with microdisplacement printing to create patterned self-assembled monolayers inaccessible by other methods. The resulting structures were characterized with field emission scanning electron microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. Additionally, we have demonstrated that the chemical patterns produced by microdisplacement printing on Au{1 1 1} can function as resists for patterned metallic films where 1-adamantanethiolate regions can be selectively desorbed, followed by metal deposition into regions of exposed gold substrates or metal films can be deposited directly through the 1-adamantanethiolate regions, because the 1-adamantanethiolate monolayers allow electron transfer from the supporting electrolyte to the electrode surface (like an unfunctionalized electrode). This is in contrast to typical alkanethiolate monolayers on Au{1 1 1}, which block the same electrochemical process. These selective electrochemical desorption and deposition processes can be coupled to hybrid soft-lithography strategies to enable fabrication of novel hybrid metallic and organic structures.