HomeAboutNewsFacilityTake a dip into a monolayer! (August 2014)

Take a dip into a monolayer! (August 2014)

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The CCMR Bard Materials Facility now offers dip coating from solutions with the option of monolayer control. A KSV NIMA multi-vessel dip coater uses a programmable, rotating dipper allowing up to eight vessels of solution for cleaning, multiple solution deposition cycles and rinse sequences.  The dip coater can accommodate samples up to 50 g in mass, 70 mm high, 45 mm wide, and 3 mm thick.  The standard vessel contains 100 ml, but different size vessels can be accommodated.

If a monolayer coating is needed, then a separate KSV NIMA Langmuir-Blodgett trough with dipping capability is available.  The Langmuir-Blodgett trough has a sensitive force balance and moveable barriers that can maintain the surface pressure of a monolayer as the substrate is withdrawn from the trough with the monolayer at its surface.  The maximum substrate size is 56 mm high, 52 mm wide, and 3 mm thick.  The subphase volume in the trough is 176 ml.  The force balance can sense a surface tension of  up to 150 mN/m with a resolution of 4 μN/m.  Substrates can be dipped in either a vertical or horizontal geometry. The Langmuir-Blodgett trough can also be used without the dipper for a variety of experiments where monitoring and control of surface pressure of monolayer films is needed, such as enzyme kinetics or monolayer hydrolysis.

The KSV NIMA software is very intuitive and easy to use. It allows the user to perform a variety of pre-programmed methods that cover the most experiments. These pre-programs can be modified further for particular needs. A wide range of data and parameters can be recorded and the desired data can be easily plotted. The recordable parameters are: data point number, time, barrier position, barrier speed, trough top area, molecular area, dipper position, dipper speed, layer number, transfer ratio, and cumulative transfer.

Contact Dr. Kit Umbach of the Bard Materials Facility regarding the dip coater and Langmuir-Blodgett trough.

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