Particulate multilayers prepared from surfactant-stabilized SnO2 nanoparticles

Surfactant-stabilized SnO2 nanoparticulate organosol was prepared. The orga nosol mixed with arachidic acid was spread on water surfaces in a Langmuir- Blodgett (LB) balance. Surface pressure versus surface area isotherms were determined. The surfactant-stabilized SnO2 nanoparticulate monolayers were transferred, layer-by-layer by the LB technique, to solid substrates. Then the multilayers were characterized by Fourier transform IR spectroscopy, UV -visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results indicate that the multilayer is composed of SnO2 nanoparticles and arachidic acid. It forms a Z-type per iodic structure with a long spacing of 7.48 nm, i.e. a kind of three-dimens ional superlattice. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.