Facile interfacial electron transfer through n-alkyl monolayers formed on silicon (111) surfaces

Electron transfer (ET) kinetics through alkyl monolayers, formed on n-type Si(111) surface by the direct reaction of alkylmagnesium bromide (n-CnH2n+1MgBr, n=2, 6, 10, and 15) with hydrogen-terminated Si(111), was investigated in acetonitrile (MeCN) with anthraquinone (AQ) as the electrochemical probe. Cyclic voltammetric measurements indicate that the ability of the monolayer to block interfacial electron transfer increases with increasing alkyl chain length. In particular, the voltammetric behavior changes from non-rectifying (i.e., chemically reversible redox couple), to rectifying (i.e., diode-like when the reverse wave is pushed into the gap) with increasing chain length. The dependence of the logarithm of the electron transfer rate constant as a function on the number of carbons in the alkyl chain is not consistent with electron tunneling through the full thickness of the film. In fact, the measured constant, 0.05 ± 0.03 per methylene, is much smaller than the well-established tunneling constant, ~1.0/CH2 in the closely packed alkanethiol monolayers on gold suggesting permeation of the AQ into the film.