Surfactants, micelles, and vesicles constitute a class of self-assembled soft-matter physical systems arising from amphiphilic molecules in solution. Above the critical micelle concentration, surfactants spontaneously form micelles, typically spherical or anisotropic aggregates with hydrophobic cores and hydrophilic coronas, governed by minimization of interfacial free energy and packing constraints. At higher concentrations or appropriate conditions (e.g., temperature, ionic strength, tail architecture), these assemblies can transition into bilayer-based vesicles, closed shell structures encapsulating aqueous volumes and exhibiting bending elasticity, membrane tension, and permeability properties. Collectively, these systems serve as model platforms for studying interfacial thermodynamics, mesoscale organization, and transport phenomena in complex fluids.
A new twist on a decades-old anticancer strategy has shown powerful effects against multiple cancer types in a preclinical study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The experimental ...
Bio & Medicine
Jan 15, 2025
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Bio & Medicine
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Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have invented a new, sprayable delivery system for psoriasis medication that can be applied easily and locally to psoriasis lesions. Their work, published in Nature Communications, ...
Bio & Medicine
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Bio & Medicine
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Bio & Medicine
Oct 25, 2024
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Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have addressed a significant challenge in nanosheet technology. Their innovative approach employs surfactants to produce amorphous nanosheets from various materials, including difficult-to-synthesize ...
Nanomaterials
Oct 21, 2024
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68
Micelles are spherical molecular structures usually formed by amphiphilic molecules with block structure, which contain both hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts. The hydrophobic tails of these molecules cluster together to ...
Bio & Medicine
Oct 9, 2024
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57
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Inspired by the cell membrane structure, researchers, led by Dr. Xiaoqing Huang (State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University) and Dr. Qi Shao ...
Nanomaterials
Aug 1, 2024
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65
Our cells and the machinery inside them are engaged in a constant dance. This dance involves some surprisingly complicated choreography within the lipid bilayers that comprise cell membranes and vesicles—structures that transport ...
Bio & Medicine
Jun 26, 2024
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