FUZZY NANOASSEMBLIES - TOWARD LAYERED POLYMERIC MULTICOMPOSITES

Multilayer films of organic compounds on solid surfaces have been stud ied for more than 60 years because they allow fabrication of multicomp osite molecular assemblies of tailored architecture. However, both the Langmuir-Blodgett technique and chemisorption from solution can be us ed only with certain classes of molecules. An alternative approach-fab rication of multilayers by consecutive adsorption of polyanions and po lycations-is far more general and has been extended to other materials such as proteins or colloids. Because polymers are typically flexible molecules, the resulting superlattice architectures are somewhat fuzz y structures, but the absence of crystallinity in these films is expec ted to be beneficial for many potential applications.