Highly-Ordered Selective Self-Assembly of a Trimeric Cationic Surfactant on a Mica Surface
Original entry: William Bonificio, AP 225, Fall 2009
Information
Highly-Ordered Selective Self-Assembly of a Trimeric Cationic Surfactant on a Mica Surface Yanbo Hou, Meiwen Cao, Manli Deng, Yilin Wang Langmuir 2008 24 (19), 10572-10574
Soft matter keywords
micelle, surfactant, DTAD, bilayer, hydrophobic, hydrophilic
Summary
The purpose of this study was to investigate a novel self assembly on a mica surface. When the researchers allowed (dodecyldimethylammonioacetoxy)diethyltriamine trichloride (DTAD) to assemble on a mica surface nanoscaled parallel stripes formed. This interesting formation is quite unique compared to islands that form on normal surfaces. A suggested mechanism for this ordering was also proposed that draws on many different forces including hydrophbicity and lattice matching.