Observation of Hexagonal Crystalline Diffraction from Growing Silicate Films

Clear evidence for hexagonal crystallinity in surfactant-templated silicate films growing at the air−water interface is presented for the first time. Grazing incidence synchrotron radiation diffraction shows the development of diffraction spots just as the “induction phase”, identified previously, is completed. The observed hexagonal diffraction represents the in-plane ordering of the first two−three layers of film formed at the interface.