Mono- and multiparticulate Langmuir-Blodgett films prepared from surfactant-stabilized silver particles

Oleic-acid-stabilized 100 إ diameter silver particles have been spread at air-water interfaces in a Langmuir film balance. Surface pressure vs. surface area isotherms, reflectivity measurements, and Brewster angle and transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that increasing surface pressure resulted in the transition from gaseous and liquid phases of mixed oleic acid silver particle domains to closely packed, well-separated monoparticulate silver domains which ultimately collapsed to multiparticulate layers. Sequential transfer to solid substrates by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique led to the formation of multiparticulate layers of silver clusters.