Electrochemical behavior of a series of azobenzene self-assembled monolayers on gold

Conclusion This work shows that the structures of C_n AzoC₂ (n = 1, 2, 3, 4) SAMs are significantly different and influence the observed electrochemical behavior of these novel azobenzene systems. The sluggish electron-transfer kinetics of azobenzene SAMs were explained by the alkyl spacer between azobenzene and electrode, the spatial inhibition for structural change in the redox process of azobenzene, as well as the ion-transportation barriers. For decrease of the apparent electrontransfer rate constants with increasing the length of end-groups, and the electrochemical inaccessibility of C₄AzoC₂ SAMs, the spatial inhibition for structure conformational change and ion-transportation was considered as the predominant factor.