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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Synthesis and Characterization of Supramolecular Colloids
Published on: April 22, 2016
Reversible light-driven structural changes between the mono- and bilayer stacking alignments in
Osamu Ohtani1, Hiroki Kato, Tatsuto Yui
1Department of Crystalline Materials Science, School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan.
Abstract:
The present investigation deals with the light-driven morphological changes in multilamella films of N-methyl-4-octadecyloxystilbazolium arylcarboxylates (C18OStz+X-) cast on glass slides. The results of XRD analysis show a photostimulated layer expansion and shrinkage of the stacked thin films along the c-axis under alternative illumination at >350 and 254 nm, respectively. It was revealed that such lamellar changes could be switched either way by a reversible transformation between the mono- and bilayer units in these stacked multilamella films. Moreover, such controlled structural adjustments in the alignment could be initiated by the photocyclodimerization of the stilbazolium moieties of the arylcarboxylate salts; i.e., a monolayer-to-bilayer transformation could be induced at a stage of only 10% cyclodimer formation. The photoinduced patterning on the surface of the films was also analyzed by SEM and fluorescence microscopic investigations.
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