Chemical force microscopy of mixed self-assembled monolayers of alkanethiols on gold: evidence for phase separation

Mixed self-assembled monolayers formed by the coadsorption of hydroxyl- and methyl-terminated alkanethiols with similar chain lengths have been characterized by friction force microscopy. Friction coefficients have been determined by assuming a fit to Amonton's law. The friction coefficients vary linearly with the fraction of polar-terminated adsorbates in the self-assembled monolayer (SAM). With carboxylic acid-terminated tips, the coefficient of friction increases with the fraction of hydroxyl-terminated thiols, while with methyl-terminated tips it decreases. Similar trends are observed for pull-off forces, which increase and decrease as a function of the fraction of polar-terminated adsorbates for carboxylic acid- and methyl-terminated adsorbates, respectively. Analysis of histograms of adhesion forces has yielded insights into the phase structure of mixed SAMs. Single-component monolayers yield histograms that may be fitted to symmetric Gaussian distributions, irrespective of the nature of the terminal group on either the tip or the SAM. However, mixed monolayers yield broad, asymmetric distributions that could not be fitted with a Gaussian distribution. The best explanation for these data is that mixed SAMs of hydroxyl- and methyl-terminated alkanethiols of similar chain length form phase-separated structures.