Dewetting and deposition of thin films with insoluble surfactants from curved silicone hydrogel substrates

M.S. Bhamla, C. Balemans, G.G. Fuller

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

We investigate the stabilizing effect of insoluble surfactant monolayers on thin aqueous films. We first describe an experimental platform that enables the formation of aqueous films laden with dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) monolayers on curved silicone hydrogel (SiHy) substrates. We show that these surfactant layers extend the lifetime of the aqueous films. The films eventually "dewet" by the nucleation and growth of dry areas and the onset of this dewetting can be controlled by the surface rheology of the DPPC layer. We thus demonstrate that increasing the interfacial rheology of the DPPC layer leads to stable films that delay dewetting. We also show that dewetting can be exploited to controllably pattern the underlying curved SiHy substrates with DPPC layers.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)428-435
JournalJournal of Colloid and Interface Science
Volume449
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

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