Chain-length dependence of lipophilic force: comparison with the two-body van der Waals' force

Hydrophobic dodecanethiol capped Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) form two-dimensional patterns in monolayers of amphiphilic fatty acids () at the air water interface. An interplay between the various lipophilic interactions, in turn, decides the NP cluster size, where stronger NP-monolayer and monolayer-monolayer attraction in fatty acid monolayers with longer tail length oppose nanoparticle aggregation resulting in a decrease in cluster size in both in-plane and out-of-plane directions. The decrease in the in-plane cluster size is steepest for 14