doi:10.1039/c6tc03319aengMartin, SantiagoBallesteros, Luz M.Gonzalez-Orive, A.Oliva, H.Marques-Gonzalez, SantiagoLorenzoni, MatteoNichols, Richard J.Perez-Murano, FrancescLow, Paul J.Cea, PilarTowards a metallic top contact electrode in molecular electronic devices exhibiting a large surface coverage by photoreduction of silver cationsART-2016-98375In this contribution the photoreduction of silver ions coordinated onto a Langmuir–Blodgett monolayer is presented as an effective method for the deposition of the top contact electrode in metal/monolayer/metal devices. Silver cations were incorporated from an aqueous AgNO3 sub-phase of Langmuir films of 4,4'-(1,4-phenylenebis(ethyne-2,1-diyl))dibenzoic acid upon the transference of these films onto a metallic substrate. Subsequent irradiation of the silver-ion functionalized Langmuir–Blodgett films with 254 nm light results in the photoreduction of silver cations to produce metallic silver nanoparticles, which are distributed over the organic monolayer and exhibit a surface coverage as large as 76% of the monolayer surface. Electrical properties of these metal/monolayer/metal devices were determined by recording I–V curves, which show a sigmoidal behaviour indicative of well-behaved junctions free of metallic filaments and short-circuits. The integrity of the organic monolayer upon the irradiation process and formation of the silver top-contact electrode has also been demonstrated through cyclic voltammetry experiments.2016http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/6095810.1039/c6tc03319ahttp://zaguan.unizar.es/record/60958oai:zaguan.unizar.es:60958info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/CSIC/10-4E-805info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/E54info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/CSD2010-00024info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/CTQ2012-33198info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/CTQ2012-50187-EXPJOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY C 4, 38 (2016), 9036-9043All rights reservedhttp://www.europeana.eu/rights/rr-f/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess