TY - JOUR
T1 - Laser-induced aligned self-assembly on water surfaces
AU - Nevo, Iftach
AU - Kapishnikov, Sergey
AU - Birman, Atalia
AU - Dong, Mingdong
AU - Cohen, Sidney R.
AU - Kjaer, Kristian
AU - Besenbacher, Flemming
AU - Stapelfeldt, Henrik
AU - Seideman, Tamar
AU - Leiserowitz, Leslie
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the Kimmelman Center and the EU Marie-Curie Training Research Network for financial support, Maria Osipova for preparation part of the Si wafers, and Nir Naftali for technical assistance. Thanks are also extended to HASYLAB for x-ray synchrotron beam time, and the financial support from the Danish research agencies and the Carlsberg Foundation.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The key to functionalize of engineered molecularly nanometer thick films lies in the ability to reproducibly control their structure. A number of factors influence the film morphology of self-assembled films on solid or liquid surfaces, such as the structure of the molecules/particles, wetting, solvent hydrodynamics, and evaporation. An important example is the deposition of amphiphilic molecules from a volatile solution, self-assembled onto a water surface at monolayer coverage. Upon evaporation, a myriad of microscopic two-dimensional (2D) crystallites forms a ruptured film lying in random orientation on the surface, resulting in "2D powders." Here we present a general technique, employing linearly polarized laser pulses and varying solvent composition to influence the assembly of molecules such as poly-benzyl-L-glutamate and alamethicin on water surfaces, resulting in ultrathin molecular films with aligned regions that point in the same direction, though macroscopically separated. The experimental results are tentatively explained by a mechanism that is based on excluded volume forces and "kick model" for the effect of laser pulses to induce molecular rotation that eventually results in an aligned pattern when the system is at a collective state.
AB - The key to functionalize of engineered molecularly nanometer thick films lies in the ability to reproducibly control their structure. A number of factors influence the film morphology of self-assembled films on solid or liquid surfaces, such as the structure of the molecules/particles, wetting, solvent hydrodynamics, and evaporation. An important example is the deposition of amphiphilic molecules from a volatile solution, self-assembled onto a water surface at monolayer coverage. Upon evaporation, a myriad of microscopic two-dimensional (2D) crystallites forms a ruptured film lying in random orientation on the surface, resulting in "2D powders." Here we present a general technique, employing linearly polarized laser pulses and varying solvent composition to influence the assembly of molecules such as poly-benzyl-L-glutamate and alamethicin on water surfaces, resulting in ultrathin molecular films with aligned regions that point in the same direction, though macroscopically separated. The experimental results are tentatively explained by a mechanism that is based on excluded volume forces and "kick model" for the effect of laser pulses to induce molecular rotation that eventually results in an aligned pattern when the system is at a collective state.
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U2 - 10.1063/1.3108540
DO - 10.1063/1.3108540
M3 - Article
C2 - 19368462
AN - SCOPUS:65249147149
VL - 130
JO - Journal of Chemical Physics
JF - Journal of Chemical Physics
SN - 0021-9606
IS - 14
M1 - 144704
ER -