Vast magnetic monolayer film with surfactant-stabilized Fe3O4 nanoparticles using Langmuir-Blodgett technique

Although several methods (e.g., self-assembly, spin coating, etc.) have been explored for making a monolayer film of nanoparticles, the monolayer on a substrate is typically smaller than 1 mu m x 1 mu m in certain regions. The approach is not ideally suitable for generating a highly ordered and close-packed homogeneous vast monolayer of nanoparticles, which is potentially important for applications. In this report, the preparation of the vast monolayer films of Fe3O4 nanoparticles with a wide range such as that over 3.25 mu m x 3.95 mu m is reported. Their TEM images showed a two-dimensional assembly of Fe3O4 nanoparticles, demonstrating the uniformity of these nanoparticles. The formation of a Langmuir monolayer of the oleic acid-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles mixed with stearic acid molecules at the air/water interface and its stability were studied with a pressure-area isotherm curve. TEM and BAM studies demonstrated that increasing surface pressure resulted in a transition from well-separated domains of nanoparticles complex to well-compressed, monoparticulate layers.