Self-Organization of Quantum Rods Induced by Lipid Membrane Corrugations

Citation

Bizien, T.;Ameline, J.-C.; Yager, K.G.; Marchi, V.; Artzner, F. "Self-Organization of Quantum Rods Induced by Lipid Membrane Corrugations" Langmuir 2015, 31 12148–12154.
doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.5b03335

Summary

X-ray scattering is used to probe the co-assembly of nanorods and lipids. The nanorods induce ordered corrugations in the lipid lamellae.

Abstract

Self-organization of fluorescent nanoparticles, using biological molecules such as phospholipids to control assembly distances, is a promising method for creating hybrid nanostructures. We report here the formation of hybrid condensed phases made of anisotropic nanoparticles and phospholipids. Such structure formation is driven by electrostatic interaction between the nanoparticles and the phospholipids, and results in the formation of a 2D rectangular liquid crystal, as confirmed by high-resolution Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS). Moreover, we show that the fluorescent properties of the NPs are not modified by the self-assembly process.