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Soft Matter

Where physics meets chemistry meets biology for fundamental soft matter research.



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Soft Matter, 2008, 4, 1161 - 1164, DOI: 10.1039/b801390j

Direct visualization of phase transition dynamics in binary supported phospholipid bilayers using imaging ellipsometry

Alan W. Szmodis, Craig D. Blanchette, Andrey A. Levchenko, Alexandra Navrotsky, Marjorie L. Longo, Christine A. Orme and Atul N. Parikh

Via imaging ellipsometry, we study the phase transition dynamics induced by selective gelation of one component in a binary supported phopholipid bilayer. We find the modulation of two attendant morphological features: emergence of extended defect chains due to a net change in the molecular areas and fractal-like domains suggesting weak line tension. A time-lapse analysis of the ellipsometric images reveals the cluster size of 4–20 molecules undergoing gelation indicating weak cooperativity. These results demonstrate the use of ellipsometry for in situ, label-free, non-contact, and large-area imaging of dynamics in interfacial films.

Graphical abstract image for this article (ID: b801390j)