ABSTRACT
The polyelectrolyte-templating approach to Langmuir–Blodgettry (LB) essentially involves the supramolecular interaction between amphiphilic surfactant molecules in Langmuir films at the air–water interface and polymers introduced in the aqueous subphase. The stability of the Langmuir film at the air–water interface is assessed by recording the area of a film maintained at a constant surface pressure as a function of time. Isothermal plot of the surface pressure against the area of the monolayer film, the pressure–area isotherm, is a fundamental characterization of the monolayer at the air–water interface. The importance of interactions between polymers and surfactants, primarily in the context of surfactants assembled at the air–water interface, has been recognized for a long time. The chapter describes the several examples of the application of polyelectrolyte templating in functional materials applications. It overviews the LB technique and note in particular the issue of instability of the ultrathin films.
