Gold film surface preparation for self-assembled monolayer studies

Evaporated gold films are frequently used as substrates for the study of biomolecular adsorbates, nanoparticle systems, amd partial and full monolayer films. These studies often benefit from a predeposition cleaning of the surface that removes adventitiously adsorbed material from laboratory contaminants. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is used in this study to explore the microscopic consequences of two pretreatment protocols used in literature reports of self-assembled monolayers, based on sulfochromic and piranha acid solutions. These measurements show that treatment of the Au/mica surface with piranha acid can lead to extensive and uncontrolled etching of the surface and severe disruption of the surface topography; extended exposure causes the precipitation of crystallites on the surface that are highly mobile during STM imaging processes. Exposure of Au/mica surfaces to sulfochromic acid leads to the formation of permanent etch pits of the surface that are exclusively one Au layer deep; extended exposure leads to progressive etching and oxidation of the surface, ultimately leading to the formation of 0.33-0.36 nm high islands on the otherwise flat Au/mica surface. The piranha acid solutions are significantly more likely to cause the Au film to delaminate from the mica support than are the sulfochromic acid solutions. These results show that sulfochromic surface preparation is a direct and reliable method for the elimination of organic residues from Au(111)-textured surfaces, while causing a minimum of structural and chemical surface damage.