Fabrication of monolayer with aggregation-induced emission at the air/water interface

Existing methods for producing transparent fluorescent materials are adequate for small scale production but unsuitable for larger scales. Assistant Professor Kohei Iritani and his team at the Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Engineering, Tokyo University of Technology, Japan, are working to develop 2D monolayers to overcome this. These monolayers are formed by the self-assembly of organic molecules at the solid/liquid or air/water interface and monolayers with the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect have the potential to be used as transparent fluorescent materials. The researchers have been successful in synthesising various AIE molecules and have made attempts to form a monolayer using the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) trough. The team established a method whereby if a monolayer could not be obtained, feedback was given to the molecular design and a process of trial and error was repeatedly performed while new molecules were synthesised. This led to the construction of a fluorescence monolayer that can be transferred to a glass substrate while maintaining fluorescence emission. In their work to construct a monolayer with AIE effect at the air/water interface the researchers are seeking to suppress intramolecular motion using a flat surface of water as a substrate and make it emit fluorescence by forming a monolayer.