Studies on morphology of Langmuir-Blodgett films of stearic acid deposited with different orientation of substrates with respect to compression

Abstract

The Langmuir monolayer at an air-water interface shows remarkably different surface pressure – area isotherm, when measured with the surface normal of a Wilhemly plate parallel or perpendicular to the direction of compression of the monolayer. Such difference arises due to difference in stress exerted by the monolayer on the plate in different direction. In this article, we report the effect of changing the direction of substrate normal with respect to the compression of the monolayer during Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) film deposition on the morphology of the films. The morphology of the LB film of stearic acid was studied using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The morphology of the LB films was found to be different due to difference in the stress in different directions