Domain structure created by irreversible adsorption of dimers

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the structure of monolayers formed by randomly adsorbed dimers on flat surfaces depends on environmental factors like ionic strength, revealing local orientational order despite the absence of global order.

Contribution

It introduces an analysis of domain size distribution in dimer monolayers and its dependence on electrostatic interaction parameters, highlighting local order formation.

Findings

Local orientational order exists without global order.

Domain size distribution varies with ionic strength.

Electrostatic interactions influence domain formation.

Abstract

Structure of monolayers built during adsorption process is strongly related to the properties of adsorbed particles. The most important factor is their shape. For example, adsorption of elongated molecules on patterned surfaces may produce certain orientational order inside a covering layer. This study, however, focuses on random adsorption of dimers on flat, homogeneous surfaces. It has been observed that despite the lack of global orientational ordering, adsorbed dimers may form local, orientationally ordered structures [1, 2]. Our investigations focus on the dependence between domain size distribution and environmental parameters such as ionic strength, which affects the range of electrostatic interaction between molecules.