Bl. Kropman et al., Binary mixtures of self-assembled monolayers on SrTiO3: Experimental evidence for phase segregation, LANGMUIR, 16(4), 2000, pp. 1469-1472
The formation of monolayers from mixed solutions of alkylsiloxane molecules
on the surface of SrTiO3 has been studied. The monolayers were formed by s
elf-assembly from dilute n-hexadecane solutions of two binary mixtures of l
ong- and short-chain alkyltrichlorosilanes. These films have been studied b
y atomic and lateral force microscopy and wettability measurements. One mix
ture showed evidence of phase segregation on the vicinal surface of a SrTiO
3 (001) crystal. The long-chain molecules are found to preferably adsorb at
or migrate toward the step ledge, probably to increase their van der Waals
interaction and minimize the surface free energy.