Morphology and structure of photosensitive dye J-aggregates adsorbed on AgBr microcrystals grown in gelatin.

Though the cyanine dye J-aggregates carry the role to sense the exposing light in the silver halide photographic system, little research on the morphology of the aggregates in adsorption has been made with modern surface analytical methods. In this paper, we describe the size, epitaxy, multi-layered array formation, nucleation and preferential adsorption, and irregular distribution of population between particles and the segregation on a particle, of J-aggregates adsorbed on AgBr grown in gelatin. We employed cathodoluminescence microscopy, low energy high resolution scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Dye molecules aggregate together near the surface of AgBr and adsorb on the surface. The growth of adsorbed aggregates is controlled by the diffusion of dye molecules from the surrounding solution. The population of J-aggregates adsorbed on an AgBr particle varies from almost none to full coverage. Each aggregate is about (20-30) x (30-50) nm in size and is 2.1 nm thick for thiacarbocyanine with sodium ion, 1.04 nm for thiacarbocyanine with tosyl ion, and 0.5 nm for an oxacarbocyanine. The aggregates connect their longer edges to each other to form arrays, and the arrays build up multi-layered stacks. The arrays align parallel and segregate to form terraces. The longer edges of J-aggregates align along [210] on AgBr (100) or [632] on AgBr (111).