Behavior of a Charged Vesicle System under the Influence of a Shear Gradient:  A Microstructural Study

Abstract

The influence of shear on charged vesicles was studied by means of rheology, anisotropy of the electrical conductivity, electron microscopy, and SANS. The vesicles in the aqueous system TDMAO/TTABr/ n -hexanol are multilamellar, polydisperse in size, and densely packed, which results in elastic properties and a yield stress. It is shown that the vesicles decrease in size with increasing shear rate and small unilamellar vesicles are formed that are found to be stable and do not relax back to the original state. Thus shearing is proofed to be a suitable method for size control of vesicles.