Films prepared according to a layer-by-layer (LBL) manner find increasing importance in many applications such as coatings with dedicated optical or electronic properties, particularly when including nanomaterials. An alternative way to prepare such hybrid layer-by-layer coatings is to perform sol-gel chemistry in a layer-by-layer manner. In this article, we highlight the importance of the NaCl concentration as a parameter to control the growth as well as the properties of LBL films made from poly(ethylene imine) as the organic counterpart and titanium IV (bisammoniumlactato)dihydroxyde ([Ti(lac)(2)(OH)(2)](2-)) as the precursor of TiO(2). An increase in the sodium chloride concentration leads to the faster growth of the film and to a decrease in the number of hexacyanoferrate anions remaining in the film after a buffer rinse. This may be due to a progressive increase in the fraction of negatively charged TiO(2) as suggested by transmission electron microscopy. In the presence of 0.5 M NaCl, the fraction of TiO(2) is close to 60% in mass. As a surprising finding, the films produced from 0.15 M NaCl are not homogeneously filled with TiO(2) even if the film is produced in an LBL fashion. The increased concentration of TiO(2) at the film-solution interface could constitute a barrier for the incorporation of the negatively charged redox probe.
© 2011 American Chemical Society