Self-assembled monolayers of chromophores on gold surfaces

In the last two decades the field of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) has received much attention both in research and for applications because of the stability and the simple handling of SAMs. In this account we present a short overview about the morphology and preparation of the different gold surfaces used for SAMs and about self-assembled alkanethiol monolayers on Au(111). The synthetic strategies and the aggregation of self-assembled chromophores on gold is described in more detail. The most important chromophores are introduced along with their spectroscopic UV/vis, fluorescence, electron and energy transfer characteristics. Applications of self-assembled dyes on gold as sensors, photoswitchable materials, catalysts and for photocurrent generation are outlined.