title: Design of Highly Stable Echogenic Microbubbles through Controlled Assembly of Their Hydrophobin Shell.
abstract: Dispersing hydrophobin HFBII under air saturated with perfluorohexane gas limits HFBII aggregation to nanometer-sizes. Critical basic findings include an unusual co-adsorption effect caused by the fluorocarbon gas, a strong acceleration of HFBII adsorption at the air/water interface, the incorporation of perfluorohexane into the interfacial film, the suppression of the fluid-to-solid 2D phase transition exhibited by HFBII monolayers under air, and a drastic change in film elasticity of both Gibbs and Langmuir films. As a result, perfluorohexane allows the formation of homogenous populations of spherical, narrowly dispersed, exceptionally stable, and echogenic microbubbles.
authors.affiliation: NFMLab, Politecnico di Milano, Via Mancinelli 7, 20131, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gazzera
authors.affiliation: VTT-Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Biologinkuja 7, Espoo, 02044 VTT, Finland.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Milani
authors.affiliation: VTT-Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Biologinkuja 7, Espoo, 02044 VTT, Finland.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pirrie
authors.affiliation: Institut Charles Sadron (CNRS), University of Strasbourg, 23 rue du Loess, 67034, Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmutz
authors.affiliation: Institut Charles Sadron (CNRS), University of Strasbourg, 23 rue du Loess, 67034, Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blanck
authors.affiliation: NFMLab, Politecnico di Milano, Via Mancinelli 7, 20131, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Resnati
authors.affiliation: NFMLab, Politecnico di Milano, Via Mancinelli 7, 20131, Milano, Italy. pierangelo.metrangolo@polimi.it.|VTT-Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Biologinkuja 7, Espoo, 02044 VTT, Finland. pierangelo.metrangolo@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Pierangelo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Metrangolo
authors.affiliation: Institut Charles Sadron (CNRS), University of Strasbourg, 23 rue du Loess, 67034, Strasbourg, France. krafft@unistra.fr.
authors.forename: Marie Pierre
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3379-2783
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Krafft
keywords: echogenicity; fluorocarbons; hydrophobin; interfacial films; ultrasound imaging