Impact of choice of alkane deposition solvent on 4-fluorobenzoic acid layers adsorbed on silver nanostructures

► 4-Fluorobenzoic acid (4FBA) adsorbs as 4-fluorobenzoate ion (4FBI) in monolayer on silver nanostructures. ► 4FBA does not ionize in multilayer using n-pentane as deposition solvent. ► 4FBA ionizes to 4FBI in multilayer using n-hexane deposition solvent. ► Strong intermolecular attractions occur between 4FBI and n-heptane (or a heavier alkane solvent) in the multilayer.