Self-organizing molecular materials are commonly described in bulk systems. Thomas Just Sørensen and a group of first year nanoscience students at the University of Copenhagen have investigated an ionic self-assembled material that maintains self-organizing properties when processed into thin films. The material consists of a cationic surfactant template and an anionic functional unit.

Bottom-up nanoscience relies on the ability to form ordered structures. By tailoring the intermolecular interactions between cationic surfactants and anionic building blocks, a sandwich structure was obtained in bulk and thin films. The structure is highly ordered, with segregated layers of surfactants and building blocks, a type of order that is ideal for photovoltaics and display technology.

The team has prepared materials with various building blocks and shown that that the method of molecular organization is general. Simply re-dissolving the molecular material and depositing it on a spinning glass substrate allow for formation of nanometer thick film over square centimeters, with alternating layers of insulating alkyl chains and functional building blocks.

• Template-Guided Ionic Self-Assembled Molecular Materials and Thin Films with Nanoscopic Order,
  Marco Santella, Fatima Amini, Kristian B. Andreasen, Dunya S. Aswad, Helene Ausar, Lillian Marie Austin, Ilkay Bora, Ida M. I. Boye, Nikolaj K. Brinkenfeldt, Magnus F. Bøe, Emine Cakmak, Alen Catovic, Jonas M. Christensen, Jonas H. Dalgaard, Helena Maria D. Danielsen, Abdel H. El Bouyahyaoui, Sarah E. H. El Dib, Btihal El Khaiyat, Iqra Farooq, Freja K. Fjellerup, Gregers W. Frederiksen, Henriette R. S. Frederiksen, David Gleerup, Mikkel Gold, Morten F. Gruber, Mie Gylling, Vita Heidari, Mikkel Herzberg, U. Laurens D. Holgaard, Adam C. Hundahl, Rune Hviid, Julian S. Høhling, Fatima Z. Abd Issa, Nicklas R. Jakobsen, Rasmus K. Jakobsen, Benjamin L. Jensen, Phillip W. K. Jensen, Mikkel Juelsholt, Zhiyu Liao, Chung L. Le, Ivan F. Mayanja, Hadeel Moustafa, Charlie B. B. Møller, Cecilie L. Nielsen, Marius R. J. E. H. Nielsen, Søren S.-R. Nielsen, Markus J. Olsen, Bandula D. Paludan, Idunn Prestholm, Iliriana Qoqaj, Christina B. Riel, Tobias V. Rostgaard, Nora Saleh, Hannibal M. Schultz, Mark Standland, Jens S. Svenningsen, Rasmus Truels Sørensen, Jesper Visby, Emilie L. Wolff-Sneedorff, Malte Hee Zachariassen, Edmond A. Ziari, Henning O. Sørensen, Thomas Just Sørensen,
  ChemNanoMat 2015.
  DOI: 10.1002/cnma.201500064