AFM Imaging of Surfactant Micelles

July 1, 2009 — By Hannes C. Schniepp

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We imaged the dynamic self-assembly of surfactant micelles at the solid–liquid interface with our new NTEGRA microscope for the first time:

Each of the diagonal lines shown in the image has a diameter of about 5 nm only and represents a hemi-cylindrical micelle comprised of CTAB surfactant molecules (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide). The vertical topography modulations have an amplitude of about 2 Å only (0.2 nm). Nevertheless, the image features a comparatively much lower noise level.

The experiment was carried out in a liquid cell on a HOPG (graphite) substrate.

[27]	Biomacromolecules (2015) — Koebley, Greving, Vollrath & Schniepp* "Silk Reconstitution Disrupts Fibroin Self-Assembly"
[22]	J. Phys. Chem. C (2012) — Glover, Adamson & Schniepp* "Charge-Driven Selective Adsorption of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate on Graphene Oxide Visualized by Atomic Force Microscopy"
[21]	Nano LIFE (2012) — Li, Schniepp, Aksay & Car "Phonon-Induced Anisotropic Dispersion Forces On A Metallic Substrate"
[19]	Biomacromolecules (2012) — Greving, Cai, Vollrath & Schniepp* "Shear-Induced Self-Assembly of Native Silk Proteins into Fibrils Studied by Atomic Force Microscopy"
[12]	Langmuir (2008) — Murira, Punckt, Schniepp, Khusid, & Aksay "Inhibition and Promotion of Copper Corrosion by CTAB in a Microreactor System"
[11]	J. Phys. Chem C (2008) — Schniepp, Shum, Saville & Aksay "Orientational Order of Molecular Assemblies on Rough Surfaces"
[9]	Langmuir (2008) — Schniepp, Saville & Aksay "Tip-Induced Orientational Order of Surfactant Micelles on Gold."
[6]	J. Phys. Chem. B (2007) — Schniepp, Shum, Saville & Aksay "Surfactant Aggregates at Rough Solid–Liquid Interfaces"
[5]	J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2006) — Schniepp, Saville & Aksay "Self-Healing of Surfactant Surface Micelles on Millisecond Time Scales"
[3]	Phys. Rev. Lett. (2006) — Saville, Chun, Li, Schniepp, Car & Aksay "Orientational Order of Molecular Assemblies on Inorganic Crystals"