UC Irvine

The effects of a barrier in proximity to the air-water interface on the dynamics of a Langmuir monolayer system are observed. A monolayer of Survanta, bovine lung surfactant, is deposited onto the interface of an aqueous buffer solution. Polystyrene particles one micron in diameter and tagged with fluorescent carboxylate groups are distributed evenly throughout the monolayer surface. The bead-monolayer system is compressed and expanded to induce folding. A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate is placed below the monolayer in the buffer solution to study interactions between the folding monolayer and a barrier. The presence of the substrate is shown to shift surface pressure-area isotherms toward regions of lower area by an average of 8.9 mN/m. The surface of the PDMS substrate can be imaged using fluorescence microscopy to detect the presence of particles or surfactant that may have been transported there from the air-water interface during folding. Images show the transferral of particles and monolayer together suggesting the pinch-off of a fold or the direct interaction of a fold with the barrier.