Structural and morphological investigation of Langmuir–Blodgett SWCNT/behenic acid multilayers Original Research Article

The goal of our work has been the incorporation of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in Langmuir–Blodgett organic multilayers. We deposited multilayers consisting of six cadmium behenate (CdBe) layers alternated with one layer of SWCNTs. SWCNTs and CdBe molecules were spread at the air/water interface and deposited at a fixed compression pressure for CdBe (27 mN/m) and two different compression pressures for the nanotubes, 15 and 45 mN/m, respectively. Low angle X-ray measurements exhibited distinct satellite peaks in all the samples demonstrating that the periodicity of the LB CdBe reference sample was conserved when SWCNTs were inserted in the structure. In agreement with the observations at optical and electronic microscopes, the samples deposited at the higher compression pressure (45 mN/m) presented more densely-packed and more uniform coverage of nanotubes.