Langmuir-Blodgett-Kuhn and self-assembled films of asymmetrically substituted poly(paraphenylene).
Asymmetrically substituted poly(paraphenylene) (PhPPP) with hydrophilic and hydrophobic side chains was investigated. The polymer behavior at the air-water interface was studied on the basis of surface pressure-area (pi-A) isotherms and compression/expansion hysteresis measurements. PhPPP can form stable monolayers with an area per repeat unit of A=0.20+/-0.02 nm2 and a collapse pressure in the range of pi=25 mN/m. Then, Langmuir-Blodgett-Kuhn (LBK) films of PhPPP were prepared by horizontally and vertically transferring the Langmuir monolayers onto hydrophilic solid substrates at pi=12 mN/m. Cross-section analysis of the AFM tapping-mode topography images of a single transferred monolayer reveals a thickness of d0=0.9+/-0.1 nm. Taking into account the obtained monolayer thickness, curve-fitting calculations of angular scan data of LB monolayers measured using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy lead to a value for the refractive index of n=1.78+/-0.02 at lambda=632.8 nm. Next, the spontaneous formation of a PhPPP monolayer by adsorption from solution was studied ex situ by atomic force microscopy and UV-vis spectroscopy and in situ by using SPR spectroscopy. Stable self-assembled monolayers of PhPPP can be formed on hydrophilic surfaces with a thickness similar to that of the monolayer obtained using the LB method. The characterization results confirmed the amphiphilic character and the self-assembly properties of PhPPP, as well as the possibility of preparing homogeneous monolayer and multilayer films.
Fitrilawati
F
F
Departments of Chemistry and of Materials Science, National University of Singapore, 10 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117543.
Renu
R
R
Baskar
C
C
Xu
L G
LG
Chan
H S O
HS
Valiyaveettil
S
S
Tamada
K
K
Knoll
W
W
D000327:Adsorption; D007700:Kinetics; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
D011108:Polymers