PDA films with CdS nucleated on it, produce a selected area electron diffraction pattern that is the superimposition of four different projections of the CdS fcc structure. This suggests that crystallites can in fact be in any orientation with only one crystal axis with alignment with the substrate. This represents a unique example of template crystallization where limited control is manifested. The PDA film is particularly suited for template nucleation studies due to its rigidity, large domains, birefringence and chromatic absorption sensitivity. These properties result in well defined crystal orientation, their alignment over the extent of the substrate domains and the possibility to relate crystal morphology to the polymer direction.
Liposomes are spherical supramolecular structures made of lipid bilayers.
There is a recent attention in their potential usage for pharmaceutical applications. One possible application is the controlled release of drugs and targeted drug delivery. An inherent difficulty for the medical use of liposomes is the short lifetime in the body due to their fast degradation by the immune system. In this project we study the different aggregation states of the mixed-lipid structures and their interactions with model immunoglobulins, with and without PEG lipids. The similar molecular organization of monolayers and lipid bilayers enables the study of mixed monolayers of the vesicle-forming compounds with surface sensitive techniques that are inapplicable to vesicles.