Electrolytic gold deposition on dodecanethiol-modified gold films

The electrochemical nucleation and growth of Au from a Au sulfite electrolyte onto dodecanethiol-modified Au surfaces is investigated by a combination of microscopy and chronoamperometry methods. The self-assembled dodecanethiol monolayers are continuous but exhibit defects in correspondence of the Au grain boundaries and on top of Au terraces. Nucleation of Au films occurs initially at these defect sites, but only a small fraction of these nuclei survive an initial competition process. The remaining nuclei expand through three-dimensional progressive nucleation followed by diffusion-limited growth. The resulting Au films exhibit microstructures which are widely different from those observed in the electrochemical growth of Au on Au and that depend on the applied potential: while at low overpotentials the film grows as an assembly of hemispherical clusters, at intermediate overvoltages the films are smooth and at high overvoltages become dendritic. Metal growth onto self-assembled monolayer-modified substrates can thus provide an alternative method for controlling film morphology for a wide range of applications.