Seddon Annela M, Richardson Sam J, Rastogi Kunal, Plivelic Tomás S, Squires Adam M, Pfrang Christian
H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol , Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, United Kingdom.
Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials, H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol , Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, United Kingdom.
J Phys Chem Lett. 2016 Apr 7;7(7):1341-5. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b00449. Epub 2016 Mar 30.
We demonstrate that acoustic trapping can be used to levitate and manipulate droplets of soft matter, in particular, lyotropic mesophases formed from self-assembly of different surfactants and lipids, which can be analyzed in a contact-less manner by X-ray scattering in a controlled gas-phase environment. On the macroscopic length scale, the dimensions and the orientation of the particle are shaped by the ultrasonic field, while on the microscopic length scale the nanostructure can be controlled by varying the humidity of the atmosphere around the droplet. We demonstrate levitation and in situ phase transitions of micellar, hexagonal, bicontinuous cubic, and lamellar phases. The technique opens up a wide range of new experimental approaches of fundamental importance for environmental, biological, and chemical research.
