Web Release Date: February 15,
Isolated and Linear Arrays of Surfactant-Encapsulated Polyoxometalate Clusters on Graphite
and
University of Kentucky, Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, Lexington, Kentucky 40506, University of Ulm, Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, D-89081 Ulm, Germany, Max Planck Institute of Colloid & Interfaces, D-14424 Postdam, Germany and National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan, and Humboldt University Berlin, Department of Physics, Newtonstr. 15, D-12489 Berlin, Germany
Received October 17, 2007
In Final Form: December 11, 2007
Abstract:
We report on the self-assembly of several surfactant-encapsulated clusters (SECs) on the basal plane of graphite consisting of the doughnut-shaped tungstophosphate anion [Na(H2O)P5W30O110] covered by a hydrophobic shell of surfactants. Well-ordered rodlike structures are observed using scanning force microscopy. No such ordering is observed if the surfactant methyltrioctadecylammonium is used for encapsulation, suggesting that the density of alkyl chains around the polyoxometalate cluster is an important factor in determining the order of SEC assemblies on graphite. Coadsorption of tetratetracontane (n-C44H90) and (DODA)14[Na(H2O)P5W30O110] results in single, isolated SECs on a buffer layer of tetratetracontane, as determined by scanning tunneling microscopy.
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