LANGMUIR-BLODGETT MONOLAYERS AS TEMPLATES FOR THE SELF-ASSEMBLY OF ZIRCONIUM ORGANOPHOSPHONATE FILMS

Organized molecular assemblies are being explored for potential uses ranging from electronics and photonics applications to the active components in chemical sensors. These molecular assemblies are sometimes organized layer-by-layer, or even molecule-by-molecule. For one-layer-at-a-time depositions, the order of the active surface or ''template'' layer plays a critical role in organizing the assembly. In this article, we show how a Langmuir-Blodgett monolayer of octadecylphosphonic acid can be used as the template layer for monolayer and multilayer depositions of zirconium phosphonates. The highly organized and well characterized Langmuir-Blodgett template allows subsequent assembly steps to be quantified. The organization of molecules in the ''self-assembled'' layers reflects the order in the original template layer.