CRYSTALLIZATION IN EUROPIUM COMPLEX MONOLAYERS ON A COMPOSITE SUBPHASE

The monolayer behaviour of a luminescent europium complex Eu(TTA)(3)Ph en on three different subphase surfaces have been investigated. Reprod ucible pi-A isotherms and uniformly-distributed crystalline monolayers have been obtained only on the composite subphase that, here, denotes the aqueous solution saturated with Phen (1,10-phenanthroline), TTA ( alpha-thenoyltrifluoroacetone) and Eu(TTA)(3)Phen. The plateau, appear ing on pi-A isotherm at pi=8 mN m(-1), corresponds to the surface crys tallization of Eu(TTA)(3)Phen. The whole process of surface crystalliz ation was videotaped in situ through the Brewster angle microscopy and proved by the images as well as by the electron diffraction hexagonal patterns on the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. The br ight pitches of microcrystals were observed within the view field of a fluorescence microscope. Moreover, before crystallization a phase sep aration was observed at pi approximate to 6 mN m(-1) in monolayers of Eu(TTA)(3)Phen mixed with arachidic acid (AA) through TEM. By using th e composite subphase, high-quality and intensely fluorescent multilaye rs of Eu(TTA)(3)Phen/AA (in molar ratio 1:1) were fabricated by the La ngmuir-Blodgett technique.