Low‐energy ion scattering: Determining overlayer thickness for functionalized gold nanoparticles

With the widespread use of engineered nanoparticles for biomedical applications, detailed surface characterization is essential for ensuring reproducibility and the quality/suitability of the surface chemistry to the task at hand. One important surface property to be quantified is the overlayer thickness of self-assembled monolayer (SAM) functionalized nanoparticles, as this information provides insight into SAM ordering and assembly. We demonstrate the application of high sensitivity low energy ion scattering (HS-LEIS) as a new analytical method for the fast thickness characterization of SAM functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). HS-LEIS demonstrates that a complete SAM is formed on 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid (C16COOH) functionalized 14 nm AuNPs. HS-LEIS also experimentally provides SAM thickness values that are in good agreement with previously reported results from simulated electron spectra for surface analysis (SESSA) analysis of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data. These results indicate HS-LEIS is a valuable surface analytical method for the characterization of SAM functionalized nanomaterials.