Characterization of Self-Assembled Monolayers by Low Energy Reactive Ion Scattering: Influences of Terminal Group Composition and Structure on Ion-Surface Interaction

Abstract

Low energy (tens of eV) polyatomic cations were used as probes for characterization of monolayers of spontaneously chemisorbed thiols on gold. Characteristics including chemical composition, surface order and orientation of the self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) can be derived by monitoring the products of projectile ion neutralization, surface-induced dissociation (SID), and ion-surface reactions.To study the influence of the terminal group chemical structures and orientations of the SAMs on ion-surface interactions, a series of semi-fluorinated alkane thiols with difluoromethylenes buried underneath hydrocarbon terminal groups were examined (CH3CF2CH2− and CH3CH2CF2−). Compared to terminally fluorinated SAMs, they showed more projectile ion neutralization and less internal to vibrational energy deposition into precursor ions. Projectile ion-hydrocarbon reactions decreased significantly when difluoromethylenes are one or two bonds away from the terminal group. Furthermore, ion-surface reaction results on surfaces with odd and even chain lengths suggested that they have similar terminal methyl orientations to their hydrocarbon counterparts.Mixed monolayers of CF3CF2(CH2)14SH (F-SAMs) and CH3(CH2)15SH (H-SAMs) with systematically changing electron transfer, energy deposition and ion-surface reaction were prepared using mixed thiols solution and micro-contact printing (μ-CP). The solution mixture system showed linear variations in electron transfer and energy deposition with different F-SAM surface concentrations, while non-linear changes occur for ion-surface reaction suggesting strong lateral interactions between the two components. These interactions are minimized in the μ-CP system containing domains of each thiol. Energy deposition on the patterned surfaces varies non-linearly with changing F-SAM concentration which differs from the homogenously mixed system.To explore SID with a 90 collision angle, eV SID of a series of protonated peptide ions were performed in an in-line sector Time-Of-Flight (TOF) mass spectrometer. The results were compared to keV collision-induced dissociation (CID) data collected with the same instrument. Fragmentation efficiency for SID was higher than CID for those peptides. In addition to the excellent control over laboratory collision energies with SID, different amount of energy deposition can be achieved when varying surface composition, e.g. using mixed F-SAM/H-SAM.Reactive ion scattering spectrometry (RISS) results provided more in-depth knowledge of low energy ion-surface interactions that will promote usage of RISS as a novel surface characterization technique.