Two-dimensional pressure-driven nanorod-to-nanowire reactions in Langmuir monolayers at room temperature

Typical two-dimensional surface pressures prevalent within floating monolayer (Langmuir) films are on the order of a few dozen megapascals. One might expect, therefore, that some chemical reactions should be directly and strongly affected by this surface pressure, along with the well-known effect of pressure on the orientational order and the mere proximity of the molecules within the film. Here, we show that the two-dimensional surface pressure in Langmuir films provides a direct driving force, decreasing the activation energy of a cooperative oriented coalescence of ZnS nanorods into nanowires near room temperature. At low film surface pressure or low temperature, the nanorods do not react, while in solution, they react only above 140°C, even though in all of these cases, the rods are organized in similar super-crystalline clusters. Electron microscopy and measurements of the reaction rates give a detailed picture of the order of the rods, their rearrangement, and their coalescence.