Self-assembly of acridine orange dye at a mica/solution interface: formation of nanostripe supramolecular...

Optical waveguide spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have been used to characterize the supramolecular architectures of acridine orange (AO) dye self-assembled at a mica/aqueous solution interface. Under the saturated adsorption conditions, optical waveguide spectroscopy revealed that the dye formed H-type aggregates at the interface. In situ AFM visualized interesting morphology of the dye aggregates showing nanosized meandering stripes with the width of approximately 1.5 nm (or brightness periodicity of approximately 3 nm). Electrostatic adsorption of the dye cations onto a mica surface as well as the intermolecular pi-pi stacking brought about the ordered nanostructures. We propose an interfacial aggregation model that shows a meandering staircase structure with the intermolecular slip angle of 60 degrees. According to the model, the AO molecule occupies a surface area of about 1.0 nm2.