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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Phase composition of Fe-containing Langmuir-Blodgett layers after thermal treatment in a reactive atmosphere

subject

description

By the Langmuir-Blodgett technique, mono- and multilayers of ferric stearate were drawn onto silicon wafers. They were thermodesorbed in air at 250–300°C, and the layers formed in this way were found to consist of γ-FeOOH with defective stoichiometry. By heating in H2, the layers can be reduced to Fe2− and even to α-Fe. The latter is magnetically ordered and highly corrosion resistant. Chloride ions, however, induce fast corrosion. FeCl2, formed by this corrosion, is rather unstable and transforms to an Fe3+ phase. The high corrosion resistance of the metallic Fe layer is assumed to be due to its excellent homogeneity. The experiments were performed using XPS, AES, CEMS, and SEM.