Measurement of the Displacement Current Across Monolayers at the Air-Water Interface Using Kuhn-Type Lb Film Apparatus

Abstract

A number of methods have been developed to investigate the physical properties of monolayers formed at the air-water interface. Among them, the displacement current method is appropriate for the investigation of the dynamic behavior of monolayers. The measuring system of displacement current method was constructed at home-made Kuhn type LB deposition apparatus using aluminum plate electrode. The currents induced by the dynamic motion of molecules were measured when the molecules were pressed by barrier. To verify the measuring system, we used 4-octyl-4′-(5-carboxy-penta-methyleneoxy)azobenzene molecules which has two remarkable variations of surface pressure of monolayer at the air-water interface. We can detect the two peaks of displacement currents which shows that the orientations of molecules are changed greatly at the state of these two remarkable changes of surface pressure.