Orientation Control of Polyoxometalate Nanoparticles in Organic- Inorganic Hybrid LB Films

Orientation control of a polyoxometalate (POM) nanoparticle in its two-dimensional arrangement was attempted by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique. For their uniorientation, two carboxyl groups were introduced on one side of the POM particle, and hydrophobic long chains were attached by esterification with the carboxyl groups (C18-POM). The C18-POM layer spread on water surface showed stability against surface pressure up to 60 mN/m. The pattern of the C18-POM isotherm was quite different from stearyl alcohol (C18-OH), while the POM itself did not show any development of surface pressure on water surface. The AFM images of C18-POM LB films showed some microcrystalline structures that were noticed as dot structures by Brewster angle microscopy. The microimages for C18-POM did not completely spread out as a monolayer on the water surface. The XPS spectra indicated the presence of POM structures and stearyl ester bonds formed from about 65% of the total carboxyls. The XRD spectra showed that the unioriented POMs were not positioned with the same lattice distance but rather in a wavy surface state.