0000000000285466
AUTHOR
Stefan Kirstein
Structure, energy and charge transport in two-dimensional crystals of cyanine dyes
Abstract In order to develop systems with controlled energy or charge transfer across molecular dimensions it is highly desirable to build two-dimensional crystals of functional dye molecules: they can be addressed from the third dimension and the lateral intermolecular interactions can be well characterized due to a fixed and defined geometry. In an effort to study these possibilities we prepared crystals of different, negatively charged cyanine dyes, formed after adsorption from a water subphase to a positively charged monolayer. These crystals are one monolayer thick, of uniform dimensions between 10 and 100 μm (depending on nucleation conditions) and of rectangular shape. Single crystal…
Two-dimensional dye crystals with controllable optical properties
The structure, molecular ordering and optical properties of single crystals of cyanine dyes grown by adsorption from a water subphase to a positively charged lipid monolayer are discussed. These crystals are one monolayer thick, of uniform dimensions between 10 and 100μm (depending on nucleation conditions) and of rectangular shape. Single crystals were studied by transmission electron diffraction and by polarized absorption and emission spectroscopy. We show that the crystals consist of two rows of densely stacked molecules with two different orientations of the long molecular axes. This leads to two perpendicularly polarized absorption bands. The measured splitting is in accordance with r…
J-aggregates prepared by adsorption at monolayer/water interfaces
By adsorption of anionic cyanine dyes at positivly charged lipid monolayers large J-aggregates are formed. Absorption and fluorescence spectra are measured at the air/water interface during the crystallization process. The influence of the lipid/dye interaction on the aggregate structure is studied for two different systems. It is shown that the aggregate structure can be improved by growing crystals from a seed.
Structure and optical properties of a monolayer single crystal of a cyanine dye
Abstract Molecularly thin single crystals of a cyanine dye prepared by adsorption at a charged surfactant monolayer are studied by polarized optical spectroscopy and electron diffraction. Both techniques independently show a herringbone arrangement of the dye with the long axes of translationally inequivalent molecules forming an angle of 80°. The dye arranges in a primitive rectangular unit cell (a=21.2 A, b=6.14 A) adjacent to an epitaxially related hexagonal cell of the aliphatic tails of the surfactant.