Physisorbed self-assembled monolayers at the interface between a solid and a liquid: nucleation, growth, and dynamics.

This project aims to address core issues relevant to kinetics and thermodynamics of formation of monolayers at the LSI by studying nucleation and growth processes associated with monolayer formation of a well-defined building block under controlled experimental conditions. The project will focus on modifying conditions during nucleation, growth and ripening to gain mechanistic insight into elementary processes involved in monolayer formation. Besides the well-known factors such as type of solvent, concentration and temperature, the current project aims to modify nucleation and growth conditions by use of additives and modified substrates.