Surface pressure monolayers

The principal requirements for an ideal gaseous film are that the constituent molecules must be of negligible size with no lateral adhesion between them. Such a film would obey an ideal two-dimensional gas equation, ttA kT, i.e. the it-A curve would be a rectangular hyperbola. This ideal state of affairs is, of course, unrealisable but is approximated to by a number of insoluble films, especially at high areas and low surface pressures. Monolayers of soluble material are normally gaseous. If a surfactant solution is sufficiently dilute to allow solute-solute interactions at the surface to be neglected, the lowering of surface tension will be approximately linear with concentration - i.e. 

Neumann has adapted the pendant drop experiment (see Section II-7) to measure the surface pressure of insoluble monolayers [70]. By varying the droplet volume with a motor-driven syringe, they measure the surface pressure as a function of area in both expansion and compression. In tests with octadecanol monolayers, they found excellent agreement between axisymmetric drop shape analysis and a conventional film balance. Unlike the Wilhelmy plate and film balance, the pendant drop experiment can be readily adapted to studies in a pressure cell [70]. In studies of the rate dependence of the molecular area at collapse, Neumann and co-workers found more consistent and reproducible results with the actual area at collapse rather than that determined by conventional extrapolation to zero surface pressure [71]. The collapse pressure and shape of the pressure-area isotherm change with the compression rate [72]. 

Fig. IV-21. Surface pressure versus area for monolayers of immiscible components a monolayer of pure cadmium arachidate (curve 1) and monolayers of mixed merocyanine dye, MC2, and cadmium arachidate of molar ratio r = 1 10 (curve 2) 1 5 (curve 3), 1 2 (curve 4), and pure MC2 (curve 5). The subphase is 2.5 x 0 M CdC, pH = 5.5 at 20°C. Curve 3a (O) was calculated from curves 1 and 5 using Eq. IV-44. (From Ref. [116].)...

Fig. XV-9. Fluorescence micrograph of the stripe patterns observed in a monolayer from a mixture of PA and SP-Bi-25 (20% by weight peptide) on a buffered saline subphase at 16 C and zero surface pressure. (From Ref. 55.)...

Fig. XV-14. Surface pressure-area isotherms at 298 K for a DPPC monolayer on phos-photungstic acid (10 Af) at the pH values shown with 10 A/ NaCl added. (From Ref. 123.)...

Langmuir-Blodgett was the first technique to provide a practical route for the constmction of ordered molecular assembhes. These monolayers, which provide design dexibiUty both at the individual molecular and at the material levels, are prepared at the water—air interface using a hiUy computerized trough (Fig. 1). Detailed discussions of troughs (4) and of surface pressure, 7T, and methods of surface pressure measurements are available (3,6). 

Fig. 1. A trough for deposition of monolayers on soHd substrates A, bath B, a moving barrier C, a motor D, a pressure-control device E, a surface pressure balance F, a motor with a gearbox that lowers and raises the substrate and G, a soHd substrate. The film material (S) has a hydrophobic tail and...

The monolayer resulting when amphiphilic molecules are introduced to the water—air interface was traditionally called a two-dimensional gas owing to what were the expected large distances between the molecules. However, it has become quite clear that amphiphiles self-organize at the air—water interface even at relatively low surface pressures (7—10). For example, x-ray diffraction data from a monolayer of heneicosanoic acid spread on a 0.5-mM CaCl2 solution at zero pressure (11) showed that once the barrier starts moving and compresses the molecules, the surface pressure, 7T, increases and the area per molecule, M, decreases. The surface pressure, ie, the force per unit length of the barrier (in N/m) is the difference between CJq, the surface tension of pure water, and O, that of the water covered with a monolayer. Where the total number of molecules and the total area that the monolayer occupies is known, the area per molecules can be calculated and a 7T-M isotherm constmcted. This isotherm (Fig. 2), which describes surface pressure as a function of the area per molecule (3,4), is rich in information on stabiUty of the monolayer at the water—air interface, the reorientation of molecules in the two-dimensional system, phase transitions, and conformational transformations. 

Patterns of ordered molecular islands surrounded by disordered molecules are common in Langmuir layers, where even in zero surface pressure molecules self-organize at the air—water interface. The difference between the two systems is that in SAMs of trichlorosilanes the island is comprised of polymerized surfactants, and therefore the mobihty of individual molecules is restricted. This lack of mobihty is probably the principal reason why SAMs of alkyltrichlorosilanes are less ordered than, for example, fatty acids on AgO, or thiols on gold. The coupling of polymerization and surface anchoring is a primary source of the reproducibihty problems. Small differences in water content and in surface Si—OH group concentration may result in a significant difference in monolayer quahty. Alkyl silanes remain, however, ideal materials for surface modification and functionalization apphcations, eg, as adhesion promoters (166—168) and boundary lubricants (169—171). 

Fig.4.53. Experimental and simulated PM (polarization modulated) IRRAS spectra of single monolayers of (A) PEG and (B) K(LK)7 at the air-water interface. The surface pressure was 20 mN m [4.281],...

The terminology of L-B films originates from the names of two scientists who invented the technique of film preparation, which transfers the monolayer or multilayers from the water-air interface onto a solid substrate. The key of the L-B technique is to use the amphiphih molecule insoluble in water, with one end hydrophilic and the other hydrophobic. When a drop of a dilute solution containing the amphiphilic molecules is spread on the water-air interface, the hydrophilic end of the amphiphile is preferentially immersed in the water and the hydrophobic end remains in the air. After the evaporation of solvent, the solution leaves a monolayer of amphiphilic molecules in the form of two-dimensional gas due to relatively large spacing between the molecules (see Fig. 15 (a)). At this stage, a barrier moves and compresses the molecules on the water-air interface, and as a result the intermolecular distance decreases and the surface pressure increases. As the compression from the barrier proceeds, two successive phase transitions of the monolayer can be observed. First a transition from the gas" to the liquid state. 

Traditional amphiphiles contain a hydrophilic head group and the hydrophobic hydrocarbon chain(s). The molecules are spread at molecular areas greater (-2-10 times) than that to which they will be compressed. The record of surface pressure (II) versus molecular area (A) at constant temperature as the barrier is moved forward to compress the monolayer is known as an isotherm, which is analogous to P-V isotherms for bulk substances. H-A isotherm data provide information on the molecular packing, the monolayer stability as de-... 

In a study of mixed monolayers of C60 and p-iert-butylcalix[8]arene, different isotherm behavior was obtained [256]. The surface pressure was observed to rise at a lower molecular area (1.00 nm molecule vs. 2.30 mn molecule in the prior study). Similar isotherms were observed whether a 1 1 mixture or a solution prepared by dissolving the preformed 1 1 complex was spread. The UV spectra of the transferred LB films appeared different than that of bulk C60. It was concluded that a stable 1 1 complex could be formed by spreading the solution either of the mixture or of the complex. This was confirmed in a later study by the same group that included separate spreading of the calixarene and the C60... 

Salts of fatty acids are classic objects of LB technique. Being placed at the air/water interface, these molecules arrange themselves in such a way that its hydrophilic part (COOH) penetrates water due to its electrostatic interactions with water molecnles, which can be considered electric dipoles. The hydrophobic part (aliphatic chain) orients itself to air, because it cannot penetrate water for entropy reasons. Therefore, if a few molecnles of snch type were placed at the water surface, they would form a two-dimensional system at the air/water interface. A compression isotherm of the stearic acid monolayer is presented in Figure 1. This curve shows the dependence of surface pressure upon area per molecnle, obtained at constant temperature. Usually, this dependence is called a rr-A isotherm. 

Initially, the compression does not result in surface pressure variations. Molecnles at the air/water interface are rather far from each other and do not interact. This state is referred to as a two-dimensional gas. Farther compression results in an increase in snrface pressure. Molecules begin to interact. This state of the monolayer is referred as two-dimensional liquid. For some compounds it is also possible to distingnish liqnid-expanded and liquid-condensed phases. Continnation of the compression resnlts in the appearance of a two-dimensional solid-state phase, characterized by a sharp increase in snrface pressure, even with small decreases in area per molecule. Dense packing of molecnles in the mono-layer is reached. Further compression results in the collapse of the monolayer. Two-dimensional structure does not exist anymore, and the mnltilayers form themselves in a non-con trollable way. 

Therefore, the following method was suggested and realized (the scheme is shown in Fig. 17). A 1.5 M solution of KCl or NaCl (the effect of preventing BR solubility of these salts is practically the same) was used as a subphase. A platinum electrode was placed in the subphase. A flat metal electrode, with an area of about 70% of the open barriered area, was placed about 1.5-2 mm above the subphase surface. A positive potential of +50 -60 V was applied to this electrode with respect to the platinum one. Then BR solution was injected with a syringe into the water subphase in dark conditions. The system was left in the same conditions for electric field-induced self-assembly of the membrane fragments for 1 hour. After this, the monolayer was compressed to 25 mN/m surface pressure and transferred onto the substrate (porous membrane). The residual salt was washed with water. The water was removed with a nitrogen jet. 

The dependence of the surface pressure upon the time with and without applied electric field is shown in Figure 18. It is clear that the electric field strongly improves the ability of the membrane fragments to form a monolayer at the water surface. 

FIG. 18 Dependence of the surface pressure of BR monolayer upon the time in the presence and absence of the electric field. 

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