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Self-Assembled Monolayers: Characterization and Application to Microcantilever Sensors Brian Seivewright Department of Chemistry McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada August 2007 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ©Copyright 2007 All rights reserved. Brian Seivewright, August 2007 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-50993-7 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-50993-7 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada Abstract The assessment of silicon nitride microcantilevers as solution phase sensors and the understanding of the forces at play within these are the principal focus of this thesis. Microcantilevers with different self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on their top and bottom surfaces were prepared using metal sputtering and thermal evaporation. These dual-coated microcantilevers were shown to be more stable to thermal fluctuations than single-sided microcantilevers. Control of the bottom- side surface chemistry of the microcantilevers is shown to be possible with alkylthiolate SAMs. A microcantilever-based liquid cell and a new microcantilever structure were designed, implemented, and characterized. This microcantilever system was assessed as a sensor in solution and was used to investigate the differential surface stress resulting from chemical and physical stimuli. The stability and reproducibility of 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid SAMs were studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry on polycrystalline gold electrodes. The observed voltammetric peak magnitude and position were modeled by accounting for the kinetics of dissociation of the carboxylic acid groups. This surface reaction was then extensively studied in the microcantilever system. Microcantilevers functionalized with acid-terminated SAMs on one surface and alkyl-terminated SAMs on the other surface are responsive to pH changes. ii Differential surface stress vs. pH measurements allow for the determination of the surface pKi/2 of acid-terminated SAMs. The pKi/2 of surface-bound acid moieties is shown to be ca. 2 pH units higher than the equivalent solution-phase carboxylic acid. The forces responsible for the observed differential surface stress are evaluated. Although functionalized microcantilevers do respond to pH changes, there remain problems with signal reproducibility and hysteresis. The prospects for development of the microcantilever system into a laboratory tool are discussed. in Abrege Cette these traite de revaluation de microcantileviers de nitrure de silicium comme senseurs en solution et de I'etude des forces impliquees autour de cette utilisation. Des microcantileviers avec differentes monocouches auto-assemblees (MAA) sur les surfaces inferieures et superieures furent prepares utilisant le "sputtering" de metaux et I'evaporation thermique. Ces microcantileviers avec doubles-couches sont demontres comme etant plus resistants aux fluctuations thermiques que ceux avec une couche simple. Les proprietes chimiques de la couche inferieure des microcantileviers est demontre avec des MAA d'alkylthiolates. Une cellule liquide ainsi qu'une nouvelle structure de microcantilevier sont developpees, implementees et characterises. Ce systeme de microcantileviers est evalue comme senseur en solution et est utilise pour etudier le stress differentiel de surface cause par differents stimulis chimiques et physiques. La stabilite et la reproductibilite de MAA de HS-C-12-COOH sont etudiees par spectroscopie d'impedance electrochimique et voltametrie cyclique sur electrodes d'or polycrystallins. La magnitude et la position du pic voltametrique observe sont modelisees en prenant en consideration la cinetique de dissociation des groupes d'acide carboxilique. Cette reaction des surfaces est etudiee en detail a I'interieur du systeme-microcantilevier. Les microcantileviers ainsi fonctionnalises par I'addition de MM avec groupe acide-terminal sur une des surfaces et des MAA avec groupe alkyl-terminal sur I'autre repondent aux changements de pH.La mesure du stress differential de surfaces et du pH permettent la determination du pKi/2de surface des MAA avec groupe acide-terminal. Le pKi/2 des groupes acides sur surfaces est de ca. 2 unites de pH plus eleve que celui des groupes equivalents en solutions. Les forces responsables du stress differentiel de surface sont mesure. Meme si les microcantileviers fonctionnalises repondent aux changements de pH, il persiste des problemes avec la reproductibilite du signal et I'hysterese. Fianlement, le potentiel de developpement du systeme de microcantileviers comme outil de laboratoire est discute. V Preface In accordance with the Thesis specifications of the "Thesis Preparation and Submission Guidelines" (Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, Mcgill University, http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/programs/thesis/guidelines/preparation/the following text is cited: "As an alternative to the traditional thesis format, the thesis can consist of a collection of papers of which the student is an author or co-author. These papers must have a cohesive, unitary character making them a report of a single program of research. The structure for the manuscript-based thesis must conform to the following: 1. Candidates have the option of including, as part of the thesis, the text of one or more papers submitted, or to be submitted, for publication, or the clearly-duplicated text (not the reprints) of one or more published papers. These texts must conform to the "Guidelines for Thesis Preparation" with respect to font size, line spacing and margin sizes and must be bound together as an integral part of the thesis. (Reprints of published papers can be included in the appendices at the end of the thesis.) 2. The thesis must be more than a collection of manuscripts. All components must be integrated into a cohesive unit with a logical progression from one chapter to the next. In order to ensure that the thesis has continuity, connecting texts that provide logical bridges preceeding and following each manuscript are mandatory. 3. The thesis must conform to all other requirements of the "Guidelines for Thesis Preparation" in addition to the manuscripts. The thesis must include the following: 1. a table of contents; 2. a brief abstract in both English and French; 3. an introduction which clearly states the rational and objectives of the research; 4. a comprehensive review of the literature (in addition to that covered in the introduction to each paper); 5. a final conclusion and summary; 6. a thorough bibliography; 7. Appendix containing an ethics certificate in the case of research involving human or animal subjects, microorganisms, living cells, other biohazards and/or radioactive material. 4. As manuscripts for publication are frequently very concise documents, where appropriate, additional material must be provided (e.g., in appendices) in sufficient detail VI r^. to allow a clear and precise judgement to be made of the importance and originality of the research reported in the thesis. 5. In general, when co-authored papers are included in a thesis the candidate must have made a substantial contribution to all papers included in the thesis. In addition, the candidate is required to make an explicit statement in the thesis as to who contributed to such work and to what extent. This statement should appear in a single section entitled "Contributions of Authors" as a preface to the thesis. The supervisor must attest to the accuracy of this statement at the doctoral oral defence. Since the task of the examiners is made more difficult in these cases, it is in the candidate's interest to clearly specify the responsibilities of all the authors of the co-authored