SPONTANEOUS SELF-ORGANIZATION VIA CATION-EXCHANGE IN FATTY-ACID FILMS IMMERSED IN AQUEOUS-MEDIA

The spontaneous self-organization of vacuum-deposited films of fatty acids immersed in electrolyte solutions yield c-suds-oriented multilayer films of their metal salts. X-ray diffraction, electron takeoff angle dependent photoelectron spectroscopic studies, infrared spectroscopy, as well as ellipsometric studies have been used to demonstrate the self-organization via cation exchange. The solvation of the exchanged cation causes a swelling which in turn brings about the reorganization, c-axis oriented films of metal salts of lauric acid which cannot be deposited by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique may now be deposited.