Behavior of Self-assembled Mn(III)/Mn(II)-NEt3 Conjugate on Different Support Observed by AFM-SNOM

Abstract

Et3N (Mn-triethylamine) complex conjugated with binuclear Mn-hydroxide, Mn2(OH)3Cl and similar manganese complex with Et2NH (diethylamine) self-assembled in aqueous solutions have been investigated by simultaneous AFM (atomic force microscopy) and SNOM (scanning near-field optical microscopy) in thin layers prepared on mica and PET (polyethylene terephthalate). The size of the particles after crystallization of the precipitated former conjugate was controlled with XRD (X-ray diffraction). It is found that the conjugate self-assembling produces the smallest grains with the diameter of 65 ± 7.5 nm measured at contact with the support. This particle size matches the crystallite size of 44.2 nm found by XRD for the conjugate taking into account the particles deformation under the contact with the support. The self-assembly of the smallest particles in solution has produced non-transparent for light core observed on mica with the size varied between 300 to 400 nm. The latter occurs due to hydrophobic interactions since no core of the former conjugate has been found on hydrophobic PET surface. No submicroscopic core is also found in the case of similar conjugate with Mn-Et2NH complex on PET film and mica both.