Enhancement of second-harmonic response and photocurrent generation from abenzothiazolium styryl dye LB film through an interfacial self-assembly reaction

An interface self-assembly reaction between HgCl2 and an amphiphilic hetero aromatic styryl dye, 2-(4-dihexadecylaminostyryl) benzothiazole methiodide (I), was studied. Its Langmuir-Blodgett films Ia, Ib, and Ic fabricated fro m different subphases (pure water, 5 x 10(-8) M HgCl2, and 5 x 10(-7) M HgC l2, respectively) were characterized by using UV-vis spectra and XPS measur ements. Compared to those of film Ia, the seond-harmonic responses and phot ocurrent generation from film Ib and Ic were obviously enhanced with the ad dition of HgCl2 into the subphase. Under ambient conditions (0.5M KCl), the quantum yields of photoelectric conversion are 0.73%, 0.95%, and 2.45% for Ia, Ib, and Ic respectively. The effects of some factors such as bias volt age, methyl viologen (MV2+) and hydroquinone (H(2)Q) on the photocurrent ge neration have also been investigated.