Langmuir, Vol.12, No.5, 1351-1356, 1996
Monolayers and Multilayers of Uranyl Arachidate .2. Influence of the Subphase pH on the Structure and Stability of Langmuir-Blodgett-Films
In this second paper we describe the comprehensive structure investigations on multilayers of uranyl arachidate formed by Langmuir-Blodgett deposition from subphases of different pH on solid substrates by means of a combination of infrared spectroscopy, X-ray specular reflection, ellipsometry, and scanning force microscopy. The structure of these multilayers and their stability are obviously influenced by the subphase pH. The pH range of the acid to salt conversion determined for the Langmuir films is confirmed by the infrared spectroscopic data of the multilayers. While arachidic acid films, deposited from an uranyl acetate subphase of low pH, are found to have a strongly distorted rough surface, the films of uranyl arachidate formed at higher subphase pH are smooth and have a quite regular and stable multilayer structure. The influence of the counterions on the alkyl chain conformation, chain packing, reorganization probability, and stability of the multilayers is discussed.
Keywords:AIR-WATER-INTERFACE;BINDING