Applications of self-assembled monolayers in materials chemistry

Self-assembly provides a simple route to organise suitable organic molecules on noble metal and selected nanocluster surfaces by using monolayers of long chain organic molecules with various functionalities like –SH, –COOH, –NH2, silanes etc. These surfaces can be effectively used to build-up interesting nano level architectures. Flexibility with respect to the terminal functionalities of the organic molecules allows the control of the hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity of metal surface, while the selection of length scale can be used to tune the distant-dependent electron transfer behaviour. Organo-inorganic materials tailored in this fashion are extremely important in nanotechnology to construct nanoelctronic devices, sensor arrays, supercapacitors, catalysts, rechargeable power sources etc. by virtue of their size and shape-dependent electrical, optical or magnetic properties. The interesting applications of monolayers and monolayer-protected clusters in materials chemistry are discussed using recent examples of size and shape control of the properties of several metallic and semiconducting nanoparticles. The potential benefits of using these nanostructured systems for molecular electronic components are illustrated using Au and Ag nanoclusters with suitable bifunctional SAMs.