Contrasting Transport and Electrostatic Properties of Selectively Fluorinated Alkanethiol Monolayers with Embedded Dipoles

Surface dipoles are a powerful tool in interfacial modification for improving device output via energy level matching. Fluorinated alkanethiols show a strong promise for these applications as they can generate large and tunable dipoles based on fluorine location and chain length. Furthermore, these chains can be designed to possess fluorocarbons solely along the backbone, enabling an embedded configuration that generates a significant dipole effect from the fluorines while maintaining surface chemistry to prevent deleterious side effects from altered surface interactions. However, fluorine substitution can modify other molecular electronic properties, and it is important to consider the transport properties of these interfacial modifiers so that knowledge can be used to tailor the optimal device performance. In this paper, we report the transport properties of self-assembled monolayers derived from a series of fluorinated alkanethiols, both with and without the embedded dipole structure. Photoelectron spectroscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy show significant work function modification from all fluorine-containing molecules compared to purely hydrocarbon thiols. However, although embedded fluorocarbons generate a smaller electrostatic effect than terminal fluorocarbons, they yield higher tunneling currents across Au/monolayer/eutectic gallium-indium junctions compared to both terminal fluorocarbon and purely hydrocarbon alkanethiols. Computational studies show that the location of the fluorine constituents modifies not only dipoles and energy levels but also molecular orbitals, enabling the presence of delocalized lowest unoccupied molecular orbital levels within the alkanethiol backbone and, thereby, the appearance of larger tunneling currents compared to other alkanethiols. Ultimately, we show that fluorinated alkanethiols and the embedded dipole architecture are both powerful tools, but they must be thoroughly analyzed for proper utilization in a device setting.