Spin‐assembly is an excellent method for controlling the amount and thickness of adsorbed polyelectrolyte in fabricating multilayer thin films. These films are investigated by means of ellipsometry and UV‐vis spectroscopy and their spectral properties are used to determine the effect of the polyelectrolyte concentration, the speed of rotation, and other experimental parameters on the film thickness and uniformity. Adjusting these parameters allows fine‐tuning of the multilayer thin films and provides the spin‐assembly method with a control tool for many future applications.

The synthesis and characterization of covalently bound self-assembled monolayer thin films of 5,10,15,20tetra(4-pyridyl)-21 /f,23#-porphine (TPyP) and its derivatives on fused quartz and silicon (100) substrates having a native oxide layer are described. The monolayer film consists of porphyrin macrocycle disk-like structures that were analyzed by UV-visible spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and polarized FTIR-ATR measurements. One of the attractive features of these complexes is their large second-order nonlinear optical response, as expected for a strongly delocalized «--electron system without inversion symmetry. Second-harmonic generation (SHG) measurements have been used to determine the absolute value of the dominant element of the nonlinear susceptibility, Xa¡ ~2 X 1(H esu, the uniformity of these films, and the dispersion of the refractive indices. The average molecular orientation angle of the surface-bound chromophores was measured by both FTIR-ATR and SHG and found to be in good agreement.

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Polyelectrolyte thin films composed of alternating layers were spin-assembled by sequentially dropping cationic and anionic aqueous solutions onto a spinning substrate. In this work, we show the applicability of our technique to multiple systems and present two methods for producing linear film growth. The polycations used were PEI (poly(ethylenimine), PDDA (poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride), PAH (poly(allylamine hydrochloride), and two poly(propylenimine) dendrimers (generations 3.0 and 4.0). The polyanions used were PAZO (poly[1-[4-(3-carboxy-4-hydroxy-phenylazo)benzene sulfonamido]-1,2-ethanediyl, sodium salt]), PSS (poly(styrenesulfonate)), and PAA (poly(acrylic acid)). Layer thicknesses for all systems were determined using single-wavelength ellipsometry. UV−vis spectroscopy was used to measure deposition amounts in films containing the chromophoric polyanions PAZO and PSS. We demonstrate the ability to spin-assemble multilayered thin films up to 50 bilayers with linear increases in deposition amount between bilayers. Additionally, we show that layers of a single polyelectrolyte species can be spin-assembled with multiple deposition cycles in which consistent amounts are deposited in each cycle. In a comparison of films built from two dendrimer generations, films incorporating generation 3.0 dendrimer and PAZO show signs of higher interpenetration between layers and a more collapsed film structure than films assembled from generation 4.0 dendrimer and PAZO. Our results also suggest that a substrate effect influences the packing density of the first few bilayers, eventually dissipating around a film thickness of 50−80 Å.

The adsorption of HCl on the surface of H(2)O ice has been measured at temperatures and pressures relevant to the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. The measured HCl surface coverage is found to be at least 100 times lower than currently assumed in models of chlorine catalyzed ozone destruction in cold regions of the upper atmosphere. Measurements were conducted in a closed system by simultaneous application of surface spectroscopy and gas phase mass spectrometry to fully characterize vapor/solid equilibrium. Surface adsorption is clearly distinguished from bulk liquid or solid phases. From 180 to 200 K, submonolayer adsorption of HCl is well described by a Bragg-Williams modified Langmuir model which includes the dissociation of HCl into H(+) and Cl(-) ions. Furthermore, adsorption is consistent with two distinct states on the ice substrate, one in which the ions only weakly adsorb on separate sites, and another where the ions adsorb as an H(+)-Cl(-) pair on a single site with adsorption energy comparable to the bulk trihydrate. The number of substrate H(2)O molecules per adsorption site is also consistent with the stoichiometry of bulk hydrates under these conditions. The ionic states exist in equilibrium, and the total adsorption energy is a function of the relative population of both states. These observations and model provide a quantitative connection between the thermodynamics of the bulk and interfacial phases of HCl/H(2)O, and represent a consistent physicochemical model of the equilibrium system.