Polyelectrolyte multilayer thin films as scaffolds for absorbing silica sol-gel

ANYL 335

Tami A. Martyn, tmartyn@ou.edu and Wai Tak Yip. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, 620 Parrington Oval, Norman, OK 73019-3051
Polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) thin films are stable in ambient conditions and have thicknesses that are easily adjustable on the nanometer length scale. Porous PEM films are being used to add mechanical stability to otherwise fragile materials. The sensor material, tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) sol-gel, has been absorbed into PEM films. Dye molecule mobility in a sol-gel thin film has been compared to the sol-gel impregnated PEM film to investigate how the PEM scaffold affects the structure of an absorbed sol-gel film. Single molecule measurements of these composite films revealed that rhodamine 6G exhibits a similar mobility distribution as in sol-gel thin films alone, indicating that the sol-gel structure has not been significantly interrupted. In addition, Oregon Green 514 in TEOS impregnated PEM thin films was able to respond to pH change when equilibrated with external buffers of various pHs.