Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 25: Interfaces and Thin Films II

CPP 25.7: Talk

Tuesday, March 13, 2018, 11:45–12:00, PC 203

Interaction-dependent structure of biomimetic soft interfaces : a new method for neutron reflectometry studies — •Samantha Micciulla^1,2, Yuri Gerelli², and Emanuel Schneck¹ — ¹Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid und Grenzflächenforschung, Potsdam, Germany — ²Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France

The structural investigation of biological interfaces encounters significant methodological restrictions, due to the limited number of techniques able to probe buried interfaces with high resolution and in a perturbation-free manner. Neutron reflectometry meets these fundamental requirements and it owes the unique capability of selecting individual parts of molecular assemblies by isotopic labelling. In our group, we exploit this technique to study biomimetic interfaces under controlled interaction conditions. In this contribution, a new method to study the structure of soft interacting surfaces at varying separation distances by neutron reflectometry is presented. The method exploits a fine control of the interfacial distance by moving a lipid monolayer at the oil/water interface against a functionalized solid surface. Its applicability to study interacting soft interfaces is demonstrated by the results of recent experiments on systems showing very diverse interaction behavior, from full adhesion to strong repulsion. Finally, morphological features and dynamics of the fluid interface at different distances from the solid substrate are deduced by fluorescence microscopy.