Université de Fribourg

X-ray reflectivity reveals equilibrium density profile of molecular liquid under nanometre confinement

Perret, E. ; Nygård, K. ; Satapathy, Dillip Kumar ; Balmer, T. E. ; Bunk, O. ; Heuberger, M. ; Veen, J. F. van der

In: Europhysics Letters, 2009, vol. 88, no. 3, p. 36004

A silane (tetrakis(trimethylsiloxy)silane) has been confined within a space of a few molecular diameters (9 Å) between two atomically flat opposing mica membranes. The liquid's electron density profile along the confinement direction has been determined by synchrotron X-ray reflectivity for film thicknesses of 8.58 and 11.22 nm. We find the liquid's molecules to be strongly layered at layer...