A two step process to form organothiol self-assembled monolayers on nickel surfaces

This paper reports on an original and simple two step process of nickel oxide layer reduction and rapid self-assembling of n-dodecanethiol on nickel surfaces. Chemical reduction of the oxide layer present on polycrystalline nickel surface using hydrazine monohydrate in alkaline media is very fast and facilitates the formation of a dense self-assembled monolayer of thiol from its ethanol solution within six hours. The developed method is simple and the resulting monolayer prevents the nickel surface oxidation when exposed to atmospheric conditions. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.