Crystallite structure formation at the collapse pressure of fatty acid Langmuir films
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We report isotherm and atomic force microscopy studies of collapsed Langmuir monolayers of fatty acids. The Langmuir monolayers were overcompressed in the range 7-40°C and transferred onto mica after the sharp pressure drop when the collapse pressure was reached. Collapsed material was observed by AFM, which revealed that the multilayers are indeed three-dimensional crystallites. We found that the shape of the crystallites depends on the collapse temperature, the phase from which the collapse occurs and/or the chain length. However, at higher temperatures the collapsed films no longer show a well defined crystallite formation, but rather a more heterogeneous melt-like pattern. We associated the crystallite formation with known bulk crystal phases of the fatty acids.