Study of structural order in porphyrin-fullerene dyad ZnDHD6ee monolayers by electron diffraction and atomic force microscopy

Abstract

The structure of porphyrin-fullerene dyad ZnDHD6ee monolayers formed on the surface of aqueous subphase in a Langmuir trough and transferred onto solid substrates has been studied. The data obtained are interpreted using simulation of the structure of isolated molecules and their packing in monolayer and modeling of diffraction patterns from molecular aggregates having different sizes and degrees of order. Experiments on the formation of condensed ZnDHD6ee monolayers are described. The structure of these monolayers on a water surface is analyzed using π-A isotherms. The structure of the monolayers transferred onto solid substrates is investigated by electron diffraction and atomic force microscopy. The unit-cell parameters of two-dimensional domains, which are characteristic of molecular packing in monolayers and deposited films, are determined. Domains are found to be organized into a texture (the molecular axes are oriented by the [001] direction perpendicular to the substrate). The monolayers contain a limited number of small 3D domains.