Towards a Nano-Scale Electrochemical and Spectroscopic Characterization of Organic Layers on Oxide Surfaces

The presented works prepares the ground for galvanic deposition of metallic overlayers on metal oxide surfaces functionalized by phosphonic acid monolayers. In view of this goal, it is necessary to control the most important factors of the electrodeposition process (e.g. flatness and uniformity of distribution). Because of these requirements, in this work, we study the morphology and the interaction between PO(OH)2-functionalities and an oxide surface. The analysis is carried out using complementary surface analysis techniques, like Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). We have succeeded in creating a blank surface with a RMS roughness of less than 1 nm and a hydroxyl fraction of 17%. The organic deposition was followed in time and it was observed that Volmer Weber multilayer growth was present. Also the influence of carbon contamination was characterized and a methodology is presented to correct the experimental data for this ambient contamination.