| Chapter I of this dissertation addresses the determination of reaction kinetics for 11,11′-dithiobis(succinimidylundecanoic acid) (DSU) molecules in solution and when adsorbed to gold metallic surfaces. FTIR methods were used to measure the rate of nucleophilic addition of n-butylamine to dithiobis(succinimidylundecanoic acid) (DSU) in tetrahydrofuran to give the amide product. Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) and infrared external reflection spectroscopy (IR-ERS) were employed to observe this reaction in solution and within monolayers, respectively. Rate constants determined for the reactions in solution and the monolayer were 2.6 ± 0.9 M −1 s−1 and 2.6 ± 0.4 M−1 s−1, respectively. Results show that the reaction rate for the DSU monolayer is essentially identical to that in solution and, therefore, does not appear to be affected substantially by steric influences in the monolayer.; Chapter II describes electrochemical deposition of metal hydroxide molecules on platinum metal substrates from non-aqueous solutions. Pulsed electrodeposition was used to generate metal hydroxide deposits. Electrochemical processes were initiated by the formation of superoxide in situ, which gains a proton from a suitable donor molecule, ultimately forming hydrogen peroxide. Driving the potential to an adequately negative value induces the reduction of the hydrogen peroxide to form 2 equivalents of hydroxide ions that may then displace ligands from an organometallic precursor to form an insoluble metal hydroxide, which is then deposited on the platinum substrate. Thermal treatment of the deposit results in the formation of a metal oxide deposit, which, when containing the proper amount of a rare-earth phosphor, may emit visible emission. The technique of cyclic voltammetry was used to monitor and study electrochemical reactions of the compounds used in this study. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction are employed to examine the morphology, elemental composition and crystalline nature of the deposit, respectively. Also, the technique of cathodoluminescence is used to examine the emissive properties of certain metal oxide deposits. |
