Alternate multilayer deposition from ammonium amphiphiles and titanium dioxide crystalline nanosheets using the Langmuir-Blodgett technique

A new type of TiO₂ nanosheet organic complex multilayer film was successfully prepared by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. Surface pressure-area (π-A) curves demonstrated that a stable monolayer of dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide (DODAB) was formed on an aqueous suspension of TiO₂ nanosheets derived from an exfoliated layered titanate, H_xTi_2-x/4□_x/4O₄·H₂ O (x ∼ 0.7; □, vacancy). The hybrid monolayer of the ammonium amphiphiles and the TiO₂ nanosheet was quantitatively transferred onto a hydrophobic quartz plate to form a multilayer film. X-ray diffraction measurements confirmed the formation of an ordered structure of DODAB/TiO₂ with an interlayer distance of 3.4 nm.