Formation of hierarchical molecular assemblies from poly(oxypropylene)-segmented amido acids under AFM tapping

Molecular self-aligning of amphiphilic molecules into bundles with a constant width of 7-13 nm was observed under tapping-mode atomic force microscopy (TM-AFM). The requisite amphiphile, a poly(oxypropylene)-trimellitic amido acid sodium salt, is constituted of a symmetric amido acid structure with potential noncovalent forces of ionic charges, hydrogen bonds, pi-pi aromatic stacking, and hydrophobic interactions for intermolecular interaction. The amphiphiles are able to self-align into orderly hierarchical assemblies after simply being dissolved in water and dried under spin-coated evaporation. Under the TM-AFM tapping process, the bundles increased their length from an initial 20 to 600 nm. A sequential TM-AFM scanning and interval heating process was designed to probe the morphological transformations from the molecular bundles to lengthy strips (nearly micrometer scale) and to columns (with 5-7 nm spacing between the parallel strips). The formation of hierarchical arrays via molecular stretching, aligning, and connecting to each other was simultaneously observed and accelerated under the TM-AFM vibration energy. The molecular self-alignment caused by vibrations is envisioned to be a potential methodology for manipulating molecules into assembled templates, sensors, and optoelectronic devices.