Ordered Nanoporous Thin Films by Nanosphere Lithography and Diazonium Electroreduction: Simple Elaboration of Ultra‐Micro‐Electrode Arrays

Abstract

Highly ordered ultra‐micro‐electrode arrays are obtained using nanosphere lithography combined with electrochemical reduction of an aryl diazonium salt. A template made up of 2D hexagonally close‐packed polystyrene (PS) spheres was first deposited on indium tin oxide or glassy carbon substrates. Then, a thin layer of bisthienylbenzene (BTB) was grafted onto the interstices between the spheres. After dissolution of the PS spheres, the presence of micro‐hole arrays on the substrates was evidenced by atomic force microscopy. The electrochemical response of these micro‐hole arrays was investigated as a function of the size of the spheres used. Depending on their radius and the distance between adjacent holes, they behave as a partially blocked surface or as ultra‐microelectrode arrays (UMEAs).

Nanostructured Mixed Layers of Organic Materials Obtained by Nanosphere Lithography and Electrochemical Reduction of Aryldiazonium Salts

“…42 The profiles of Figure 1 show that the hole depth is between 4 and 6 nm for the BTB-hole electrode. Note that the thinner and thicker BTB films can be generated at will, 40 and that despite the fact that the hole seems 5 nm deep, an ultrathin layer of BTB may be deposited in each pinhole and near the rim of each hole as already observed using AFM. 40 It is known that BTB layers are insulating below 0.7 V/ SCE.…”

“…A microporous film of bisthienylbenzene (BTB) was obtained after the removal of the spheres, as previously described. 40 Figure 1 shows an AFM image of such a microporous BTB layer. Large-area nanostructured surfaces are observed with regularly spaced holes.…”

Confinement Effect of Plasmon for the Fabrication of Interconnected AuNPs through the Reduction of Diazonium Salts

“…On the other hand, bottom-up approaches, such as 3D direct laser printing [ 13 ], nanosphere lithography combined with electrochemical deposition [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ] generate nanostructures [ 18 , 19 , 20 ]. These fabrication approaches allow the construction of the desired nanostructures in a range from 2 to 10 nm, which is not only crucial for the continued miniaturization of devices, but is also promising for a variety of novel applications in biosensing, catalysis [ 21 ], and optics [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ].…”

Associative and Proton Transfer Effects on the Voltammetric Behaviour of Chemically Grafted Films Bearing Nitrophenyl Groups

“…The method allows to obtain very stable organic layers, not only on carbon surfaces but also on different metallic substrates . For this reason, the selective modification of electrode surfaces with organic moieties, by reduction of this kind of cationic compounds, has been of great interest to develop potential applications in fields like microelectronics , nanoscience , energy storage , sensors and corrosion science .…”