Unravelling adsorption and alignment of amyloid fibrils at interfaces by probe particle tracking

We report the first direct, non-invasive experimental evidence of a 2D isotropic-nematic transition for highly anisotropic nanoparticles at liquid-liquid interfaces by using passive fluorescent particle tracking. In order to illustrate the potential of this approach on systems of high real practical...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soft matter 2011-01, Vol.7 (18), p.8127-8134
Main Authors: Isa, Lucio, Jung, Jin-Mi, Mezzenga, Raffaele
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adsorption
Anisotropy
Mathematical models
Nanoparticles
Nematic
Particle tracking
Strategy
Two dimensional
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Summary:We report the first direct, non-invasive experimental evidence of a 2D isotropic-nematic transition for highly anisotropic nanoparticles at liquid-liquid interfaces by using passive fluorescent particle tracking. In order to illustrate the potential of this approach on systems of high real practical and biological relevance, we select as a model anisotropic nanoparticles [small beta]-lactoglobulin amyloid fibrils of varying aspect ratios. Upon nanoparticle adsorption at the interface, we follow, in real time and as a function of fibril length and bulk concentration, the development of a 2D nematic phase by studying the anisotropy in probe particle traces. We furthermore demonstrate the long-range nature of the nematic phase by calculating order parameters for the traces as high as 0.8 over 102 to 103 [small mu ]m2 areas. The presented route is independent of the system investigated, and thus these findings open a new, general strategy for the experimental assessment of 2D structural changes at anisotropic fluid-fluid interfaces.
ISSN:1744-683X
1744-6848
DOI:10.1039/c1sm05602f