Preparation of microelectrodes of Au with thin glass sheaths enabled the study of the fate of the reductively desorbed alkythiol molecules. This was done using fluorescence microscopy and fluorophore labeled thiol SAMs. This was published in:
- Casanova-Moreno JR, Bizzotto D. What happens to the thiolates created by reductively desorbing SAMs? An in situ study using fluorescence microscopy and electrochemistry. Langmuir. 2013;29(6):2065–2074. doi:10.1021/la305170c. (You can view the full text of this article here)
The removal of the SAM was found to result in a plume of thiolate that moves from the electrode surface, which accelerates after H2 evolution which changes the density of the electrolyte. This can be observed in the following images (fluorescence intensity is false coloured)
Movement of desorbed thiolate from the microelectrode surface at three very negative potentials