TY - JOUR
T1 - Mesoscopic Heterogeneity in Pore Size of Supramolecular Networks
AU - Matsumoto, Yuji
AU - Shundo, Atsuomi
AU - Ohno, Masashi
AU - Tsuruzoe, Nobutomo
AU - Goto, Masahiro
AU - Tanaka, Keiji
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was partly supported by JSPS KAKENHI for Young Scientists (A) (no. JP15H05496) (A.S.), and for Scientific Research (A) (no. JP15H02183) (K.T.). We are also grateful for support from CSTI Impulsing Paradigm Change through Disruptive Technologies (ImPACT) Program (K.T.). The synchrotron radiation facilities experiments were performed at BL40B2 in the SPring-8 with the approval of the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) (proposal: 2014A1613).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2018/6/26
Y1 - 2018/6/26
N2 - There has been a considerable interest in developing new types of gels based on a network of fibrous aggregate composed of low molecular weight gelators, also known as supramolecular gels (SMGs). Unlike conventional polymer gels with chemical cross-linking, the network formation in SMGs does not involve any covalent bonds. Thus, the network in SMGs has been often regarded as homogenous or less heterogeneous in comparison with that in chemically cross-linked polymer gels. In this study, we have experimentally verified the existence of the network heterogeneity even in SMGs. The thermal motion of probe particles in SMGs, which were prepared from aqueous dispersions of gelators having a different number of peptide residues, PalGH, PalG2H, and PalG3H, was tracked. The gels were spatially heterogeneous in terms of the network pore size, as evidenced by the variation in the particle motion depending on the location, at which a particle existed. With varying particle size, it was found that the characteristic length scale of the heterogeneity was in the order of (sub)micrometers and was smaller in the order of the PalG2H, PalG3H, and PalGH gels.
AB - There has been a considerable interest in developing new types of gels based on a network of fibrous aggregate composed of low molecular weight gelators, also known as supramolecular gels (SMGs). Unlike conventional polymer gels with chemical cross-linking, the network formation in SMGs does not involve any covalent bonds. Thus, the network in SMGs has been often regarded as homogenous or less heterogeneous in comparison with that in chemically cross-linked polymer gels. In this study, we have experimentally verified the existence of the network heterogeneity even in SMGs. The thermal motion of probe particles in SMGs, which were prepared from aqueous dispersions of gelators having a different number of peptide residues, PalGH, PalG2H, and PalG3H, was tracked. The gels were spatially heterogeneous in terms of the network pore size, as evidenced by the variation in the particle motion depending on the location, at which a particle existed. With varying particle size, it was found that the characteristic length scale of the heterogeneity was in the order of (sub)micrometers and was smaller in the order of the PalG2H, PalG3H, and PalGH gels.
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U2 - 10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b00641
DO - 10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b00641
M3 - Article
C2 - 29856633
AN - SCOPUS:85048062481
VL - 34
SP - 7503
EP - 7508
JO - Langmuir
JF - Langmuir
SN - 0743-7463
IS - 25
ER -