Structural and Morphological Evolution in Metal-Organic Films and Multilayers

Alokmay Datta is a senior professor at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata, India, whose research interest lies in structure and dynamics at surfaces and interfaces of soft materials, nanomaterials, and biomaterials. He has been working on Langmuir monolayers and Langmuir-Blodgett films for more than 20 years. He has introduced several new concepts and techniques to the study of these low-dimensional, complex systems, which have helped in a revival of interest in them. Smita Mukherjee is currently a guest researcher at the Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute in Kolkata, India, perusing her interest in inorganic-organic hybrid structures. She previously worked as a PhD research scholar at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata, India, exploring the morphological, structural, and spectroscopic aspects of metal-organic systems at air-water and air-solid interfaces (Langmuir monolayers and Langmuir-Blodgett films). She continued her post-doctoral research in the interdisciplinary field of soft materials, including polymers, biomaterials, and complex metal-organic nanostructures, at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and the Institut des Nanosciences de Paris in France.

Monolayers and Multilayers. Preparing Monolayers and Multilayers. Probing Tools. Theoretical Background for Data Analysis. Headgroup Coordination and Film Structure. Headgroup Conformation and Film Structure. Evolution of Film Morphology. "Liquid" and "Solid" Films. Metal-Organics and Nanocrystal Formation. Conclusions and Outlook. Bibliography.