Langmuir-Blodgett films of octadecanethiol - properties and potential applications

Octadecanethiol (ODT) is known to form self-assembled monolayer on noble metal surfaces which has potential technological applications. Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique is another useful method of obtaining highly ordered assembly of molecules. It is of interest to find whether ODT molecules can also form a stable Langmuir monolayer which facilitates the preparation of LB films. In literature, it has been reported that ODT molecules form an unstable Langmuir monolayer. We have studied the stability of the monolayer of the ODT molecules at air-water interface using surface manometry and microscopy techniques. We find the monolayer to be stable on ultrapure water of resistivity greater than 18 MΩ cm. However, the behavior changes in the presence of even small amount of additives like NaOH or CdCl₂ in the subphase. Our AFM studies on the LB films of ODT deposited from ion-free ultrapure water showed streak-like bilayer domains. The LB films of ODT deposited from CdCl₂ containing aqueous subphase yield dendritic domains of the complexed unit grown over ODT monolayer. These nanostructures on surfaces may have potential applications in molecular electronics.