Compression of Self-Assembled Nano-Objects: 2D/3D Transitions in Films of (Perfluoroalkyl)Alkanes-Persistence of an Organized Array of Surface Micelles

Understanding and controlling the molecular organization of amphiphilic molecules at interfaces is essential for materials and biological sciences. When spread on water, the model amphiphiles constituted by CnF2n+1CmH2m+1 (FnHm) diblocks spontaneously self‐assemble into surface hemimicelles. Therefore, compression of monolayers of FnHm diblocks is actually a compression of nanometric objects. Langmuir films of F8H16, F8H18, F8H20, and F10H16 can actually be compressed far beyond the “collapse” of their monolayers at ∼30 Å2. For molecular areas A between 30 and 10 Å2, a partially reversible, 2D/3D transition occurs between a monolayer of surface micelles and a multilayer that coexist on a large plateau. For A