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Research Article

Internal Structure of Polyelectrolyte Multilayers Probed via Neutral Impact Collision Ion Scattering Spectroscopy

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Hazel L. Tan,^† Thomas Krebs,^‡ Gunther Andersson,^‡ David Neff,^§ Michael Norton,^§ Harald Morgner,*^‡ and P. Gregory Van Patten*^†

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Clippinger Laboratories, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701-2979, Wilhelm-Ostwald-Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, University of Leipzig, Linnestrasse 2, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Chemistry, Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia 25755

Langmuir, 2005, 21 (6), pp 2598–2604

DOI: 10.1021/la047423p

Publication Date (Web): February 12, 2005

Section:

Physical Properties of Synthetic High Polymers

Abstract

Layering in polyelectrolyte multilayer films has been studied by neutral impact collision ion scattering spectroscopy. The method affords a direct look at vertical ordering within these films at the nanometer scale. By labeling certain polyelectrolyte layers with heavy atom (Ru) probes, sufficient contrast has been obtained to visualize and quantify the distribution of these labeled polyelectrolytes throughout the film. The results indicate that the materials under investigation here produce linear film growth with very limited layer interpenetration. The interdigitation length between neighboring layers within the film is measured as 3.9 nm, which is approximately 1.4 times the thickness of an individual polycation/polyanion pair and is slightly less than the measured air/film roughness (4.7 nm). Detailed analysis shows that under the conditions used and at the depths probed in this study, the observed layer thickness is not signficantly broadened by either instrumental or stochastic factors.

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