This book discusses what thin films are, how they are prepared, how they are characterized, and what they are used for. While showcasing the diversity of thin films, it reveals the commonality among the work performed in a variety of areas. Topics covered range from highly-ordered metal adlayers on well-defined electrode surfaces to bio-organic films on non-metallic nanoparticles. The chapters in this volume are drawn from papers originally presented at the 221st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, held in San Diego, CA.

From the Preface: “...The first atomic layer in the growth of a film is frequently the most important, as it is the transition between the substrate and the depositing film. Subsequent growth can be epitaxial (layer by layer) or amorphous (isotropic in composition). In general they are somewhere in between, composed of crystallites. They can also be polymers, or liquids, or even a single monolayer attached to a surface, as in the case of self-assembled monolayers (SAM)...”

Target Audience: Academic and industrial researchers, scientists, and technologists interested in thin films; also upper-level students concerned with this topic.

Partial Table of Contents:

Highly Ordered Adsorbate Structures on Cu(111) in the Potential Regime of Hydrogen Evolution: An In Situ STM Study

Electrochemical Epitaxial Growth, Structure, and Electrocatalytic Properties of Noble Metal Thin Films on Au(111) and Au(100)

Electrochemical Properties of Pd/Pt(111) Adlayers

Temperature-Dependence of the Under-Potential Deposition of Ag on Pt(111) in H₂SO₄

Experimental and Theoretical Studies on Branched Electrodeposits in Thin-Layer Cells

Growth Kinetics of Multi-Layer CuEtX Films on Copper Piezoelectrodes

Self-Assembled Magnetic Nanoparticle Arrays by Anodization and Electrodeposition

Ultrathin Film Electrodeposition of Conjugated Polymers on Conducting Surfaces: A Precursor Polymer and Surface Grafting Approach

Self-Assembled Monolayers as Models for Polymeric Interfaces

Structure and Electronic Properties of Self-Assembled Macrocycle and Polymer Multilayers

Preparation of Thin-Film Alumina for Catalytic Activity Studies

Solid State ¹³C MAS NMR Investigations of Amorphous Carbon Thin Films: Structural Changes During Annealing

AFM Imaging of Liquid Structures: From Droplet Profiles to Molecular Interactions

Index