Assembly of vesicles into fractal and prong patterns on substrates

Abstract

Spherical vesicles of surfactants are unique building blocks. Control over their assembly into higher order structures may aid in the creation of new soft materials that are important from both technological and fundamental standpoints. In this paper, we report fractal assemblies of lithocholic acid (LCA) vesicles on glass slides by diffusion-limited aggregation. With the use of capillary flow generated in an evaporating vesicle solution confined by two parallel glass slides, we are able to assemble LCA vesicles into pronglike structures. The fusion of linear aggregated LCA vesicles within these assemblies can lead to the formation of fractal and prong patterns of LCA tubes.