Multilayer Growth of Porphyrin-Based Polyurea Thin Film Using Solution-Based Molecular Layer Deposition Technique

Controllable synthesis of organic thin film materials on solid surfaces is a challenging issue in the research field of surface science, as it is affected by several physical parameters. In this work, we demonstrated a solution-based molecular layer deposition (MLD) approach to prepare porphyrin-based covalent organic molecular networks on a 3-aminopropyl trimethoxysilane (APTMS) modified substrate surface using the urea coupling reaction between 1,4-phenylene diisocyanate (1,4-PDI) and 5,10,15,20-tetrakis-(4-aminophenyl) porphyrin (H₂TAPP) at room temperature (22 ± 2 °C). Multilayer growth was investigated under different relative humidity (RH) conditions of the reaction chamber. Sequential molecular growth at low relative humidity (≤10% RH) was observed using UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The high-RH condition shows limited film growth. Infrared spectroscopy (IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed the polyurea bond formation in sequential multilayer thin films, demonstrating that stepwise multilayer film growth was achieved using the urea coupling reaction.