Daniela Täuber

Influence of mesoscopic structures on single molecule dynamics in thin smectic liquid crystal films

Mesoscopic structures in liquids have an impact on the diffusion dynamics of the constituting molecules. Smectic 8CB liquid crystals on silicon wafers show the formation of mesoscopic structures on the μm scale at a film thickness of 200 nm. Depending on the kind of substrate (thermally grown or native SiOx), we observed the formation of focal conic domains (FCDs) and a new type of terraced holes, respectively. Dynamics are described via single perylene diimide tracer molecule tracking of translational diffusion and in the case of FCDs by a combination of translation and rotation detected viafluorescence correlation spectroscopy. Tailoring perylene diimide molecules such that the optical transition dipole moment follows the liquid crystal director allows mapping out FCDs and investigating the dynamics within a single FCD.

Influence of van der Waals interactions on morphology and dynamics in ultrathin liquid films at silicon oxide interfaces.

Single molecule tracer diffusion studies of evaporating (thinning) ultrathin tetrakis-2-ethyl-hexoxysilane (TEHOS) films on silicon with 100 nm thermal oxide reveal a considerable slowdown of the molecular mobility within less than 4 nm above the substrate (corresponding to a few molecular TEHOS layers). This is related to restricted mobility and structure formation of the liquid in this region, in agreement with information obtained from a long-time ellipsometric study of thinning TEHOS films on silicon substrates with 100 nm thermal or 2 nm native oxide. Both show evidence for the formation of up to four layers. Additionally, on thermal oxide, a lateral flow of the liquid is observed, while the film on the native oxide forms an almost flat surface and shows negligible flow. Thus, on the 2 nm native oxide the liquid mobility is even more restricted in close vicinity to the substrate as compared to the 100 nm thermal oxide. In addition, we found a significantly smaller initial film thickness in case of the native oxide under similar dipcoating conditions. We ascribe these differences to van der Waals interactions with the underlying silicon in case of the native oxide, whereas the thermal oxide suffices to shield those interactions.

Exploring the Electronic Band Structure of Organometal Halide Perovskite via Photoluminescence Anisotropy of Individual Nanocrystals

Understanding electronic processes in organometal halide perovskites, flourishing photovoltaic, and emitting materials requires unraveling the origin of their electronic transitions. Light polarization studies can provide important information regarding transition dipole moment orientations. Investigating individual methylammonium lead triiodide perovskite nanocrystals enabled us to detect the polarization of photoluminescence intensity and photoluminescence excitation, hidden in bulk samples by ensemble averaging. Polarization properties of the crystals were correlated with their photoluminescence spectra and electron microscopy images. We propose that distortion of PbI6 octahedra leads to peculiarities of the electronic band structure close to the band-edge. Namely, the lowest band transition possesses a transition dipole moment along the apical Pb-I-Pb bond resulting in polarized photoluminescence. Excitation of photoluminescence above the bandgap is unpolarized because it involves molecular orbitals delocalized both in the apical and equatorial directions of the perovskite octahedron. Trap-assisted emission at 77 K, rather surprisingly, was polarized similar to the bandgap emission.

Single Molecule Studies on Dynamics in Liquid Crystals

Single molecule (SM) methods are able to resolve structure related dynamics of guest molecules in liquid crystals (LC). Highly diluted small dye molecules on the one hand explore structure formation and LC dynamics, on the other hand they report about a distortion caused by the guest molecules. The anisotropic structure of LC materials is used to retrieve specific conformation related properties of larger guest molecules like conjugated polymers. This in particular sheds light on organization mechanisms within biological cells, where large molecules are found in nematic LC surroundings. This review gives a short overview related to the application of highly sensitive SM detection schemes in LC.

Macroscopic Domains within an Oriented TQ1 Film Visualized Using 2D Polarization Imaging

Large-area self-assembly of functional conjugated polymers holds a great potential for practical applications of organic electronic devices. We obtained well-aligned films of poly[2,3-bis(3-octyloxyphenyl)quinoxaline-5,8-diyl-alt-thiophene-2,5-diyl] (TQ1) using the floating film transfer method. Thereby, a droplet of the TQ1 solution was injected on top of the surface of an immiscible liquid substrate, at the meniscus formed at the edge of a Petri dish, from where the polymer solution and the film spread in one direction. Characterization of the TQ1 film using the recently developed two-dimensional polarization imaging (2D POLIM) revealed large, millimeter-sized domains of oriented polymer chains. The irregular shape of the contact line at the droplet source induced the appearance of disordered stripes perpendicular to the spreading direction. A correlation of polarization parameters measured using 2D POLIM revealed the microstructure of such stripes, providing valuable information for further improvement and possible upscaling of this promising method.

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy in thin films at reflecting substrates as a means to study nanoscale structure and dynamics at soft-matter interfaces.

Structure and dynamics at soft-matter interfaces play an important role in nature and technical applications. Optical single-molecule investigations are noninvasive and capable to reveal heterogeneities at the nanoscale. In this work we develop an autocorrelation function (ACF) approach to retrieve tracer diffusion parameters obtained from fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) experiments in thin liquid films at reflecting substrates. This approach then is used to investigate structure and dynamics in 100-nm-thick 8CB liquid crystal films on silicon wafers with five different oxide thicknesses. We find a different extension of the structural reorientation of 8CB at the solid-liquid interface for thin and for thick oxide. For the thin oxides, the perylenediimide tracer diffusion dynamics in general agrees with the hydrodynamic modeling using no-slip boundary conditions with only a small deviation close to the substrate, while a considerably stronger decrease of the interfacial tracer diffusion is found for the thick oxides.

Influence of the glass transition on rotational dynamics of dyes in thin polymer films: single-molecule and ensemble experiments.

We performed polarized fluorescence emission studies of Nile Red (NR) in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), poly(ethyl methacrylate) (PEMA), and poly(butyl methacrylate) (PBMA) at the single molecule (SM) and at the ensemble level to study the in cage movements of the ground-state molecule in polymer films of nanometric thickness at room temperature. Experiments were performed with wide field irradiation. At the ensemble level, the linearly polarized irradiation was used to induce a photoselection by bleaching, which is compensated by rotational diffusion. Both results show an appreciable difference in mobility of NR in the films that is correlated with the different glass-transition temperatures of the films, particularly in PEMA, which displays a clearly distinct behavior between the 200 nm films, representing a rigid environment, and the 25 nm ones, showing much higher mobility. We developed a model of broad application for polarized photobleaching that allows obtaining rotational diffusion coefficients and photobleaching quantum yields in an easy way from ensemble experiments. The parameters obtained from ensemble measurements correlate well with the results from SM experiments.