Abstract: The synthesis of organic self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) with –CH3, -SH, -SO3H, -CH3CO2, -NH, -NHCl, and -CN functionality onto silica particles and their properties has been studied and characterised by infrared spectroscopy and measurement of the zeta-potential of the resulting powder, respectively. The infrared measurements of the samples clearly show the presence of CH2-goups and the various functionalised head groups of the SAMs in the samples indicating a successful deposition of the SAMs onto the silica particles. The measurements of the zeta-potential of the samples show clear variations of their zeta-potential depending on the type of SAM compared to the zeta-potential of the pure silica powder used in this study. Even positive zeta-potential could be measured for silica powder coated with –NH2, -NHCl, and CN-SAM. After immersing into manganese chloride solutions, the presence of manganese oxide on the SAMs coated silica particles could be observed. This phenomenon is believed to be caused by precipitation of manganese oxide particles out of the solution onto the SAMs.

Key words: Self-assembled monolayers, Synthesis, Manganese oxide