No Arabic abstract
Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) from cationic globular micellar solutions composed of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and in water was studied with contrast variation approach. Extensive computational studies have demonstrated that the distribution of invasive water is clearly an important feature for understanding the self-organization of SDS molecules and the stability of assemblies. However, in existing scattering studies the degree of hydration level was not examined explicitly. Here using the scheme of contrast variation, we establish a methodology of SANS to determine the intra-micellar radial dis-tributions of invasive water and SDS molecules from the evolving spectral lineshapes caused by the varying isotopic ratio of water. A detailed description hydration of SDS micelles is provided, which in an excellent agreement with known results of many existing simulations studies. Extension of our method can be used to provide an in-depth insight into the micellization phenomenon which is commonly found in many soft matter systems.
Triblock terpolymers exhibit a rich self-organization behavior including the formation of fascinating cylindrical core-shell structures with a phase separated corona. After crystallization-induced self-assembly of polystryrene-(block)-polyethylene-(block)-poly(methyl methacrylate) triblock terpolymers (abbreviated as SEMs = Styrene-Ethylene-Methacrylates) from solution, worm-like core-shell micelles with a patchy corona of polystryrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) were observed by transmission electron microscopy. However, the solution structure is still a matter of debate. Here, we present a method to distinguish in-situ between a Janus-type (two faced) and a patchy (multiple compartments) configuration of the corona. To discriminate between both models the scattering intensity must be determined mainly by one corona compartment. Contrast variation in small-angle neutron scattering enables us to focus on one compartment of the SEMs. The results validate the existence of the patchy structure also in solution.
An understanding of density fluctuations in bulk water has made significant contributions to our understanding of the hydration and interactions of idealized, purely repulsive hydrophobic solutes. To similarly inform the hydration of realistic hydrophobic solutes that have dispersive interactions with water, here we characterize water density fluctuations in the presence of attractive fields that correspond to solute-water attractions. We find that when the attractive field acts only in the solute hydration shell, but not in the solute core, it does not significantly alter water density fluctuations in the solute core region. We further find that for a wide range of solute sizes and attraction strengths, the free energetics of turning on the attractive fields in bulk water are accurately captured by linear response theory. Our results also suggest strategies for more efficiently estimating hydration free energies of realistic solutes in bulk water and at interfaces.
We have evidenced by small angle neutron scattering at low temperature the coexistence of ferromagnetism (F) and antiferromagnetism (AF) in Pr0.67Ca0.33MnO3. The results are compared to those obtained in Pr0.80Ca0.20MnO3 and Pr0.63Ca0.37MnO3, which are F and AF respectively. Quantitative analysis shows that the small angle scattering is not due to a mesoscopic mixing but to a nanoscopic electronic and magnetic red cabbage structure, in which the ferromagnetic phase exists in form of thin layers in the AF matrix (stripes or 2D sheets).
We have developed a global analysis model for randomly oriented, fully hydrated inverted hexagonal (H$_text{II}$) phases formed by many amphiphiles in aqueous solution, including membrane lipids. The model is based on a structure factor for hexagonally packed rods and a compositional model for the scattering length density (SLD) enabling also the analysis of positionally weakly correlated H$_text{II}$ phases. For optimization of the adjustable parameters we used Bayesian probability theory, which allows to retrieve parameter correlations in much more detail than standard analysis techniques, and thereby enables a realistic error analysis. The model was applied to different phosphatidylethanolamines including previously not reported H$_text{II}$ data for diC14:0 and diC16:1 phosphatidylethanolamine. The extracted structural features include intrinsic lipid curvature, hydrocarbon chain length and area per lipid at the position of the neutral plane.
We present the calculation of the elastic and inelastic high--energy small--angle electron--positron scattering with a {it per mille} accuracy. PACS numbers 12.15.Lk, 12.20.--m, 12.20.Ds, 13.40.--f