Electrochemistry

Biography

Biography: Jacob Sagiv

Abstract

We report recent results of ongoing efforts devoted to the advancement of unconventional approaches to the in-situ functionalization of self-assembled OTS monolayers,¹ which enable effective nondestructive chemical patterning of such inert monolayers on length scales from centimeters down to less than 10 nanometers. The developed methodology exploits novel electrochemical transformations confined at the interface between two solid materials, here the to-be-patterned OTS monolayer and a thin film coating that acts as a site-activated reagent/catalyst upon exposure to electrons.² Site-targeted nanoscale exposure to electrons is achieved either by the use of a conductive AFM tip³ or a focused electron beam⁴. Our findings demonstrate the equivalence of the monolayer surface chemical transformations induced by the electrical AFM and the e-beam lithography approaches. Besides circumventing the need of ex-situ synthesis of functional monolayer components, this nondestructive electrochemical patterning methodology offers a number of unique features that allow realization of surface channels exhibiting unusual ionic and electronic transport⁵ along planned surface paths with precisely designed layouts that may reach centimetre lengths with widths down to less than 20 nm. Such channels represent a novel trype of inherently patternable single-layer functional material with tunable electrical properties.