Domain growth, pattern formation, and morphology transitions in Langmuir monolayers. A new growth instability.

The aims of this study are the following two: (1) To show that in Langmuir monolayers (LM) at low supersaturation, domains grow forming fractal structures without an apparent orientational order trough tip splitting dynamics, where doublons are the building blocks producing domains with a seaweed shape. When supersaturation is larger, there is a morphology transition from tip splitting to side branching. Here, structures grow with a pronounced orientational order forming dendrites, which are also fractal. We observed this behavior in different Langmuir monolayers formed by nervonic acid, dioctadecylamine, ethyl stearate, and ethyl palmitate, using Brewster angle microscopy. (2) To present experimental evidence showing an important Marangoni flow during domain growth, where the hydrodynamic transport of amphipiles overwhelms diffusion. We were able to show that the equation that governs the pattern formation in LM is a Laplacian equation in the chemical potential with the appropriate boundary conditions. However, the underlying physics involved in Langmuir monolayers is different from the underlying physics in the Mullins-Sekerka instability; diffusional processes are not involved. We found a new kind of instability that leads to pattern formation, where Marangoni flow is the key factor. We also found that the equations governing pattern formation in LM can be reduced to those used in the theory of morphology diagrams for two-dimensional diffusional growth. Our experiments agree with this diagram.