Researcher(s)
- Cecilia Bustamante Andrade, Chemical Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María
- Benjamín Sanhueza, Chemical Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María
Faculty Mentor(s)
- Andrew Teplyakov, Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Delaware
- Tania Sandoval, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María
Abstract
Over the last few decades, surface functionalization has been used to modify the intrinsic properties of materials by assembling different organic and inorganic molecules through covalent bonds and interactions. In such applications as thin film transistor development, pattering and sensor development, the formation of a self-assembled monolayers or organic monolayers is a powerful tool for the modification of the chemical properties of a surface as it allows greater control of the deposition on the material of interest. Specifically, on silicon substrates, the use of linkers containing nitrogen atoms generates a more stable interface compared to Si-C bonds because the latter often leads to oxygen incorporation, which causes a deterioration of the electronic properties of the substrate.
The use of modified silicon surfaces for sensing applications is at the core of this work. To detect unwanted contaminants in gas and liquid phases, it is necessary to develop sensing devices that allow an early and efficient detection. One of the attractive strategies in sensor design is the use of metal-organic frameworks (MOF) because they have several characteristics of interest such as: 1) high porosity, allowing numerous active sites for the interaction between the analyte and the structure, 2) high tunability, since it is possible to modify the metal or organic groups to improve the interaction with the analyte to be detected and, 3) it is possible to observe an optical change in response to contact with the analyte. In order for this approach to be practical, it is important to improve the interaction between the analyte and MOF, possibly by controlling the growth of the MOFs on functionalized silicon surfaces.
A critical part of the initial growth of the SURMOF on the surface is the functionalization process, that is why in this work we propose to study and analyze the functionalization of surfaces of (100) silicon wafers in solution using aniline and pyridine. For this purpose, different characterization methods such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) will be used.