Methodology for fabricating LB films of fullerene

The fullerene (C60) film at the air/water interface has been transferred onto hydrophobic substrates by a modified horizontal lifting method by which substrates are first immersed in the subphase before spreading the film at the air/water interface, and then the film is lifted up. The optical density of the C60 LB film increases 3.9 times by the use of the modified horizontal lifting method compare to that fabricated by the conventional horizontal lifting method. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) observation has revealed that the substrate surface is well covered by the C60 clusters, 0.1–0.4 μm in lateral size, and 30–70 nm in height, without any uncovered areas, while exposure of the bare substrate surface is inevitable by the conventional horizontal lifting method.