Spectroscopic and Theoretical Study of the Grafting Modes of Phosphonic Acids on ZnO Nanorods

Metal oxides are versatile substrates for the design of a wide range of SAM-based organic-inorganic materials among which ZnO nanostructures modified with phosphonic SAM are promising semiconducting systems for applications in technological fields such as biosensing, photonics, and field-effect transistors (FET). Despite previous studies reported on various successful grafting approaches, issues regarding preferred anchoring modes of phosphonic acids and the role of a second reactive group (i.e., a carboxylic group) are still a matter of controversial interpretations. This paper reports on an experimental and theoretical study on the functionalization of ZnO nanorods with monofunctional alk…