Matthew S. Lewis, Kusum L. Chandra, and Christopher B. Gorman. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
While significant effort has been put towards the creation of a molecular electronic device a major hurtle that stands in the way is that of self-directed assembly. While some groups have reported examples of orthogonal self-assembly, there is a lack of statistical data to show what type of throughput would be available in these assembly operations. In this work, we have utilized a bifunctional phenyl ethynylene oligomer with thiol and isonitrile end groups microcontact printed on both gold and platinum (111) surfaces. Upon incubation of these patterned substrates with gold and/or platinum nanoparticles, a statistical assessment for orthogonal self-assembly of substrate/molecule/nanoparticle conjugates can be made. Preliminary studies show that a homogenous solution of gold and platinum nanoparticles can be self-directed with high efficiency towards specific binding groups.