Interdiffusion of Cadmium Arachidate in Langmuir-Blodgett Films

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe interdiffusion of Cadmium Arachidate (CdA) in Langmuir-Blodgett films has been studied by neutron reflection at the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source of Argonne National Laboratory. One of the samples consisted of a few layers of perhydro H-CdA deposited on a silicon support, overlayered with a few layers of deuterated D-CdA, for a total thickness of ∼300 Angstroms. In a second sample the layers of perhydro-and deuterated- CdA were separated by two monolayers of Hn-octadecene/co-maleic acid copolymer. When heated for 15 minutes at 70°C, well below the disorder temperature [1], approximately 25% of the D-CdA molecules were replaced by H-CdA molecules, although the overall Langmuir-Blodgett film structure is known to remain unchanged [1]. The presence of copolymer layers limited the interdiffusion process to about 5%.