The spectroscopic and morphological behavior of merocyanine dye Langmuir–Blodgett films

Abstract We fabricated the optical system of merocyanine dye (MD) using the Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) method with various mixing ratio and the number of layers to control its optical characteristic. The optical characteristic of MD LB films was evaluated by UV spectroscopy and their surface morphologies were also observed using atomic force microscope. The optical characteristics of MD LB film were controlled by mixing ratio and LB layer deposited, which includes the potential control of the performance of photo-electric devices. The optical characteristic and surface morphology were also observed when MD LB films were modified using UV irradiation or heat treatment. As a result, we obtained the quantitative optical characteristic by controlling the mixing ratio with archidic acid and LB layer deposited. Also, the mixing ratio dependent surface morphology was observed. The experimental results strongly suggest that high efficient photo-electric devices can be obtained by LB method and modified by second treatment such as UV irradiation, heat treatment, and nano-lithography.