Chemistry Letters, Vol.34, No.7, 1028-1029, 2005
Photoswitchable magnetic layer-by-layer films consisting of azobenzene derivatives and iron oxide nanoparticles
The photoswitchable magnetic thin films have been designed by alternate depositions of bipolar amphiphilic azobenzene and Fe3O4 nanoparticles by using the layer-by-layer adsorption technique. In these films, reversible photoisomerizations of the azobenzene chromophore affected the electrostatic interaction between the azobenzene chromophore and the surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. As a result, we have succeeded in controlling the magnetization of these films by photoillumination at room temperature.