In situ thermal control of Langmuir-Schaefer transfer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11508917-B2
Application number	US-202016904716-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2020
Priority date	Jul 18, 2017
Publication date	Nov 22, 2022
Grant date	Nov 22, 2022

Abstract

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

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.

Assignees

• Purdue Research Foundation

Inventors

• Claridge Shelley A
• Hayes Tyler
• Mcmillan David

Classifications

• Y02E10/549

  Organic PV cells · CPC title

• B05D1/208 Primary

  After-treatment of monomolecular films · CPC title

• B05D1/204

  LB techniques · CPC title

• H01L51/0012

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L51/0075 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic