Aligned inclusion of hemicyanine dyes into silica zeolite films for second harmonic generation

Silicalite-1 films (thickness = 400 nm) supported on both sides of glass plates (SL/G) were prepared, and hemicyanine dyes (HC-n) with different alkyl chain lengths (n, n = 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 22, and 24) were included into the silicalite-1 films by dipping SL/Gs into each methanol solution of HC-n (1 mM) for 1 d. The included numbers of HC-n per channel (N(C)) generally decreased with increasing n; that is, they were 6.4, 23.1, 15.4, 8.2, 5.7, 3.5, 0.9, and 1.2 molecules per channel, respectively. The d(33) value gradually increased with increasing n but decreased when n > 18; that is, they were 1.12, 0.50, 2.25, 3.59, 4.99, 5.30, 1.71, and 2.57 pm V(-1), respectively. However, d(33)/N(C) progressively increased with increasing n. The d(31) values were approximately 100 times smaller than the corresponding d(33) values, and the average d(33)/d(31) ratio was 109, which is higher than those of Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films and poled polymers of nonlinear optical (NLO) dyes, by approximately 2-5 and approximately 30-50 times, respectively. The estimated average tilted angle of the dyes with respect to the channel direction was 7.7 degrees, and the calculated average order parameter was 0.97, which is approximately 480 times higher than the values observed from poled polymers. The degree of uniform alignment (DUA) generally increased with increasing n. The progressive increase of both DUA and d(33)/N(C) with n is attributed to the increase in the tendency of HC-n to enter hydrophobic silicalite-1 channels with the hydrophobic alkyl chain first. A more than 134-fold increase in DUA was observed upon increasing n from 6 to 24. The DUA of HC-24 in the silicalite-1 film reached close to 1. Although the observed d(33) values were lower than those of the LB films of NLO dyes due to very small dye densities of the silicalite films, this methodology bears a great potential to be developed into the methods for preparing practically viable NLO films.