Monolayer Formation of Hydrophobic Conjugated Polymers with the Assist of Liquid Crystal Molecule

Abstract

A hydrophobic polymer alone does not form a spread monolayer on water, but our recent work showed that monolayer formation of a fully hydrophobic polysilane is attained when they are co-spread with a cyanobiphenyl type liquid crystal molecule (5CB). We report herein some extended results of this work using poly(alkylthiophen)s and polystyrene. Spreading behavior and AFM observations revealed the monolayer formation of these polymers, indicating the wide applicability of the liquid crystal-assisted process.