Continuous Isotropic-Nematic Transition in Amyloid Fibril Suspensions Driven by Thermophoresis

The isotropic and nematic (I + N) coexistence for rod-like colloids is a signature of the first-order thermodynamics nature of this phase transition. However, in the case of amyloid fibrils, the biphasic region is too small to be experimentally detected, due to their extremely high aspect ratio. Her...

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Autores principales:	Daniele Vigolo, Jianguo Zhao, Stephan Handschin, Xiaobao Cao, Andrew J. deMello, Raffaele Mezzenga
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/5ad1fe6370ea419da372937cb69d7929
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:5ad1fe6370ea419da372937cb69d79292021-12-02T11:52:56ZContinuous Isotropic-Nematic Transition in Amyloid Fibril Suspensions Driven by Thermophoresis10.1038/s41598-017-01287-12045-2322https://doaj.org/article/5ad1fe6370ea419da372937cb69d79292017-04-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01287-1https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322The isotropic and nematic (I + N) coexistence for rod-like colloids is a signature of the first-order thermodynamics nature of this phase transition. However, in the case of amyloid fibrils, the biphasic region is too small to be experimentally detected, due to their extremely high aspect ratio. Herein, we study the thermophoretic behaviour of fluorescently labelled β-lactoglobulin amyloid fibrils by inducing a temperature gradient across a microfluidic channel. We discover that fibrils accumulate towards the hot side of the channel at the temperature range studied, thus presenting a negative Soret coefficient. By exploiting this thermophoretic behaviour, we show that it becomes possible to induce a continuous I-N transition with the I and N phases at the extremities of the channel, starting from an initially single N phase, by generating an appropriate concentration gradient along the width of the microchannel. Accordingly, we introduce a new methodology to control liquid crystal phase transitions in anisotropic colloidal suspensions. Because the induced order-order transitions are achieved under stationary conditions, this may have important implications in both applied colloidal science, such as in separation and fractionation of colloids, as well as in fundamental soft condensed matter, by widening the accessibility of target regions in the phase diagrams.Daniele VigoloJianguo ZhaoStephan HandschinXiaobao CaoAndrew J. deMelloRaffaele MezzengaNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Daniele Vigolo Jianguo Zhao Stephan Handschin Xiaobao Cao Andrew J. deMello Raffaele Mezzenga Continuous Isotropic-Nematic Transition in Amyloid Fibril Suspensions Driven by Thermophoresis
description	The isotropic and nematic (I + N) coexistence for rod-like colloids is a signature of the first-order thermodynamics nature of this phase transition. However, in the case of amyloid fibrils, the biphasic region is too small to be experimentally detected, due to their extremely high aspect ratio. Herein, we study the thermophoretic behaviour of fluorescently labelled β-lactoglobulin amyloid fibrils by inducing a temperature gradient across a microfluidic channel. We discover that fibrils accumulate towards the hot side of the channel at the temperature range studied, thus presenting a negative Soret coefficient. By exploiting this thermophoretic behaviour, we show that it becomes possible to induce a continuous I-N transition with the I and N phases at the extremities of the channel, starting from an initially single N phase, by generating an appropriate concentration gradient along the width of the microchannel. Accordingly, we introduce a new methodology to control liquid crystal phase transitions in anisotropic colloidal suspensions. Because the induced order-order transitions are achieved under stationary conditions, this may have important implications in both applied colloidal science, such as in separation and fractionation of colloids, as well as in fundamental soft condensed matter, by widening the accessibility of target regions in the phase diagrams.
format	article
author	Daniele Vigolo Jianguo Zhao Stephan Handschin Xiaobao Cao Andrew J. deMello Raffaele Mezzenga
author_facet	Daniele Vigolo Jianguo Zhao Stephan Handschin Xiaobao Cao Andrew J. deMello Raffaele Mezzenga
author_sort	Daniele Vigolo
title	Continuous Isotropic-Nematic Transition in Amyloid Fibril Suspensions Driven by Thermophoresis
title_short	Continuous Isotropic-Nematic Transition in Amyloid Fibril Suspensions Driven by Thermophoresis
title_full	Continuous Isotropic-Nematic Transition in Amyloid Fibril Suspensions Driven by Thermophoresis
title_fullStr	Continuous Isotropic-Nematic Transition in Amyloid Fibril Suspensions Driven by Thermophoresis
title_full_unstemmed	Continuous Isotropic-Nematic Transition in Amyloid Fibril Suspensions Driven by Thermophoresis
title_sort	continuous isotropic-nematic transition in amyloid fibril suspensions driven by thermophoresis
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/5ad1fe6370ea419da372937cb69d7929
work_keys_str_mv	AT danielevigolo continuousisotropicnematictransitioninamyloidfibrilsuspensionsdrivenbythermophoresis AT jianguozhao continuousisotropicnematictransitioninamyloidfibrilsuspensionsdrivenbythermophoresis AT stephanhandschin continuousisotropicnematictransitioninamyloidfibrilsuspensionsdrivenbythermophoresis AT xiaobaocao continuousisotropicnematictransitioninamyloidfibrilsuspensionsdrivenbythermophoresis AT andrewjdemello continuousisotropicnematictransitioninamyloidfibrilsuspensionsdrivenbythermophoresis AT raffaelemezzenga continuousisotropicnematictransitioninamyloidfibrilsuspensionsdrivenbythermophoresis
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Continuous Isotropic-Nematic Transition in Amyloid Fibril Suspensions Driven by Thermophoresis

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