In situ thermal control of Langmuir-Schaefer transfer
This invention generally relates to a method for preparing and transferring a monolayer or thin film. In particular this present invention is an improved version of the Langmuir-Schaefer technique for preparing and transferring a monolayer or thin film, incorporating in situ thermal control of the substrate during the transfer process.
1. A monolayer or thin film of an amphiphilic monomer with a hydrophilic headgroup and a hydrophobic tail ordered with the long molecular axis parallel to the surface of a supporting substrate to create a horizontally oriented striped interface prepared by an improved Langmuir-Schaefer (LS) method comprising the steps of
a) preparing a solution of a component material for the monolayer or thin film of the amphiphilic monomer;
b) trapping interfacially the monolayer or thin film at an air-water interface;
c) preparing a supporting substrate;
d) preparing a heating and temperature control system that is operatively connected to the supporting substrate; and
e) transferring the monolayer or thin film of step b) to the supporting substrate of step c) with continuous heating of the supporting substrate at a controlled temperature of 50-70° C. during the transfer of the monolayer or thin film of the amphiphilic monomer, wherein the supporting substrate is a layered material positioned above the monolayer formed in step b),
whereupon the horizontally oriented striped interface has ordered domains with edge lengths exceeding 3 μm at set-point temperatures near 70° C.
2. The monolayer or thin film of an amphiphilic monomer of claim 1 , wherein the supporting substrate is operatively connected to the heating and temperature control system by a magnetic force.
3. The monolayer or thin film of an amphiphilic monomer of claim 1 , wherein the supporting substrate is provided by a batch-wise operation or a continuous operation.
4. The monolayer or thin film of an amphiphilic monomer of claim 1 , wherein the supporting substrate is a layered material.
5. The monolayer or thin film of an amphiphilic monomer of claim 4 , wherein the supporting substrate is graphene, highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), MoS 2 , or WS 2 .
6. The monolayer or thin film of an amphiphilic monomer of claim 1 , wherein said monolayer or thin film is used to control orientation and/or phase segregation of a block copolymer.
7. The monolayer or thin film of an amphiphilic monomer of claim 6 , wherein the block copolymer is used for a photovoltaic device.
8. The monolayer or thin film of an amphiphilic monomer of claim 1 , wherein said monolayer or thin film is transferred to a flexible substrate for a wearable electronic device.
9. The monolayer or thin film of an amphiphilic monomer of claim 1 , wherein said monolayer or thin film is used to create stacked films of the same or different kind.
10. The monolayer or thin film of an amphiphilic monomer of claim 1 , wherein said monolayer or thin film is used to create a stacked film for an organic light-emitting diode.
11. The monolayer or thin film of an amphiphilic monomer of claim 1 , which has enhanced stability toward vigorous washing with both polar and nonpolar solvents compared to a monolayer or thin film transferred to a substrate at room temperature.