Hydrogen-bond-based lateral inter-molecular effect on surface-stress generation for cantilever sensors

This paper reports experimental results and molecule-modeling analysis on origin of specific molecule-adsorption induced surface-stress. Using self-sensing piezoresistive micro-cantilevers, specific surface-adsorption experiment for a group of relative molecules is implemented, with the generated surface-stress recorded. Compared with the balanced space of self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on Au-(111) substrate, big stero difference in molecule-size can cause opposite surface-stress. For molecules with similar stero-factor, however, hydrogen-bond intensity will dominate the lateral inter-molecular effect and cause great disparity (times to one-order-of-magnitude) in the generated surface-stress.