title: Temporal evolution of self-organization of gelatin molecules and clusters on quartz surface.
abstract: Aqueous gelatin solutions when spread on hydrophilic substrates form self-organized structures where the gelatin molecules and clusters are arranged as self-similar objects giving a mass fractal dimension df=1.67 and 1.72 for solutions made with KCl and NaCl salts as estimated from atomic force microscopic studies. The dehydration driven self-organization of particles changed the df values to 1.78 and 1.81, respectively, after 24 h. This further changed to 1.83 and 1.85 after a time lapse of 10 days. The dynamics of formation of these structures are modeled through spin-exchange kinetics in the nonequilibrium steady state regime in order to understand their complex behavior. Kawasaki spin exchange dynamics has been applied to a diffusion limited aggregation type fractal object, and the growth of the domains was observed by minimizing the free energy. The fractal dimension of such a system changed from 1.70 to 1.82 which inferred the loss of fractal behavior and the generation of a more compact object. The experimentally observed temporal evolution of these complex structures could be adequately described through the results obtained from the computer simulation data.
authors.affiliation: Polymer and Biophysics Laboratory, School of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India.
authors.forename: Amar Nath
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: H B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Bohidar
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D017709:Fractals; D005780:Gelatin / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D044367:Phase Transition; D011791:Quartz / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D011791:Quartz; D005780:Gelatin