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“Micro-Pottery”Marangoni Effect Driven Assembly of Amphiphilic Fibers
journal contribution
posted on 2005-01-18, 00:00 authored by Janhavi S. Raut, Pradeep Bhattad, Aditi C. Kulkarni, Vijay M. NaikWe report spontaneous supra-assembly of fibrous surfactant crystallites at the air−solution interface
resulting in spectacular arrays of two-dimensional spiral and three-dimensional “micro-pottery”-like
superstructures. Surface pressure differential driven bending of the embryonic fiber nuclei and Marangoni
convection driven fiber migration/alignment appear to be the causal factors behind this phenomenon. The
assemblies form at specific crystal-growth velocities dictated by the relative time scales for fiber bending/alignment and their rigidification/immobilization as they grow. Although our studies are restricted to a
specific class of amphiphiles, namely, alkaline metal salts of linear fatty acids, the phenomenon should
be generic to amphiphilic molecules that crystallize into flexible fibers.