The adsorbed state of a thiol on palladium nanoparticles

In the present work, a combination of imaging, spectroscopic and computational methods shows that 1-dodecanethiol undergoes S-deprotonation to form 1-dodecanethiolate on the surface of palladium nanoparticles, which then self-assembles into a structure that shows a high degree of order. The alkyl chain is largely in the all-trans conformation, which occurs despite the small size of the nanoparticle, (mean diameter = 3.9 nm). Inelastic neutron scattering spectroscopy is readily able to characterise organic surface layers on nanoparticles; the nature of the material is irrelevant: whether the nanoparticle core is an oxide, a metal or a semiconductor makes no difference. Comparison to DFT calculations allows insights into the nature and conformation of the adsorbed layer.