Deposition of uniform fullerene films by LB technique

Abstract

Deposition of uniform fullerene (C 60) films is carried out using the Langmuir—Blodgett (LB) technique. As an intermediate stage an LB film from a mixed monolayer of C 60 and a specially selected surfactant compound is deposited. The surfactant compound used forms itself into amorphous uniform LB films and C 60 molecules distribute homogeneously in this matrix. Another property of the surfactant compound is its solubility in hexane, in which C 60 does not dissolve. One-component C 60 film is obtained after treatment of the sample with hexane. To achieve this result mixtures of C 60 with several compounds were studied and finally one of them was selected. Surface pressure-area isotherms were recorded to evaluate the degree of C 60 dissolution in matrix monolayers. Deposited LB films were studied by optical microscopy, electron diffraction and transmission electron microscopy techniques to record changes of the structure and morphology under variation of the conditions and selection of the compounds. One-component C 60 monolayers at the air-water interface as well as C 60 films transferred with the horizontal lift technique were also investigated for interpretation of the data on mixed multilayers. Some features of the structure of the studied films are discussed.