Self-Assembly on “Recordable CDs”

Gold substrates for self-assembly were constructed from recordable compact disks (CD-Rs) with simple and straight-forward wet-chemical treatment. In particular, they were made into desired sizes and shapes that satisfy different experimental needs. Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of long-chain alkanethiols (e.g., n-C18H37SH) adsorbed on gold substrates prepared from CD-Rs have been characterized by wetting measurements, electrochemistry, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The results showed that there were no distinct differences in the quality and structure between these monolayers and SAMs formed on standard gold substrates (i.e., prepared from vacuum evaporation of pure gold onto glass slides). The present work demonstrates the applicability of recordable CDs as inexpensive, simple, and versatile gold substrates for self-assembly studies.