Electronic interactions of a quatertiophene-based surfactant at the liquid/gas interface.

Bae, Changwoo; Narayanaswamy, Kamatham; Idriss, Hisham; Poyac, Ludivine; Sen, Indraneel; Richeter, Sébastien; Clément, Sébastien; Biance, Anne-Laure et al. · Soft Matter · 2025

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We report the synthesis of a functional molecule, a quatertiophene-based surfactant, which can both adsorb at the water/gas interface (surface active molecule) and aggregate through π-π stacking interactions. We assess then the ability of this molecule to create these functionalities at interfaces. This interfacial functional aggregation, characterized here <i>in situ</i> for the first time, is probed thanks to Langmuir trough experiments and spectrometric ellipsometry. These results pave the way to the design of new water based optoelectronic devices.