Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2026

Large-area Scanning Probe Nanolithography Facilitated by Automated Alignment and Its Application to Substrate Fabrication for Cell Culture Studies
Published on: June 12, 2018
How does an external electrical field affect adsorption patterns of thiol and thiolate on the gold substrate?
Jian-Ge Zhou1, Quinton L Williams
1Center for Molecular Structure and Interactions, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS 39217, USA. Department of Physics, Atmospheric Sciences, and Geoscience, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS 39217, USA.
Abstract:
The responsive behavior of methanethiol and methylthiolate molecules on the Au(111) surface with an applied electrical potential is studied, and it is shown how the sulfur adsorption site, the S-H bond orientation and the interacting energy change with an external electric field strength. The electron charge density corresponding to an electric field minus that obtained in zero field, with zero-field optimal geometry, is calculated to explain the responsive behavior. The interacting energy for the intact methanethiol adsorption is larger than that for the dissociative one, showing that an external electric field cannot make the hydrogen dissociate from the sulfur.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Adsorption of Gases on Solids
Immunogold Electron Microscopy
Preparation and Reactions of Thiols
Colloidal precipitates
The Electrical Double Layer

