Face-Selective Nucleation of Calcite on Self-Assembled Monolayers of Alkanethiols: Effect of the Parity of the Alkyl Chain
01 January 2003
Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of mercaptoalkanoic acids on gold and silver films were utilized to direct the nucleation of calcite crystals. The nucleation plane of calcite crystals on SAMs is determined by the parity of the methylene groups (odd and even effect) of the carboxylic acid functionalized alkylthiols on gold and silver. SEM, computer simulations and XRD measurements show even and odd chain length alkyl thiols on silver produced same crystals, nucleating from the (012) faces, where as, even and odd chain length alkyl thiols on gold produced two crystals which have two different nucleating planes, (11l) and (01l) faces respectively. Our results demonstrate that the orientation of the functional groups on the templating surface can control the crystallographic orientation, organization and assembly of inorganic crystals.