Controlled diazonium electrografting driven by overpotential reduction: a general strategy to prepare ultrathin layers

A global and extremely simple strategy to prepare a covalently attached monolayered organic film on a carbon surface is presented. The approach is centered on the strict control of the radical polymerization traditionally observed when aryldiazonium salts are reduced. By exploiting the reductive properties of superoxide ions generated from atmospheric dioxygen at the grafting potential, the diazonium concentration is drastically lowered at the substrate/solution interface, resulting in the formation of ultrathin films. As the presented approach does not require any specific synthesis or any redox mediator addition, and is only diffusion controlled by the dissolved dioxygen, it is suitable for the preparation of a large range of functional surfaces on the nanometric scale.