Substrate roughness influence on the order of nanografted Self-Assembled Monolayers

Adjacent patches of alkanethiol molecules whose chain lengths range from 11 to 15 carbon atoms are fabricated by nanografting within a Self-Assembled Monolayer matrix. Atomic Force Microscopy and Electrostatic Force Microscopy are employed to investigate their structural and electronic properties, highlighting the key role of the substrate roughness. In particular, the topographic phase signal allows to establish an odd–even dependence of the local stiffness versus the alkyl chain length, while the electrostatic force signal provides evidence that the conformational order versus the alkyl chain length follows an asymmetric parabolic trend induced by the substrate roughness.