Enabling Marangoni flow at air-liquid interfaces through deposition of aerosolized lipid dispersions.
It has long been known that deposited drops of surfactant solution induce Marangoni flows at air-liquid interfaces. These surfactant drops create a surface tension gradient, which causes an outward flow at the fluid interface. We show that aqueous phospholipid dispersions may be used for this same purpose. In aqueous dispersions, phospholipids aggregate into vesicles that are not surface-active; therefore, drops of these dispersions do not initiate Marangoni flow. However, aerosolization of these dispersions disrupts the vesicles, allowing access to the surface-active monomers within. These lipid monomers do have the ability to induce Marangoni flow. We hypothesize that monomers released from broken vesicles adsorb on the surfaces of individual aerosol droplets and then create localized surface tension reduction upon droplet deposition. Deposition of lipid monomers via aerosolization produces surface tensions as low as 1mN/m on water. In addition, aerosolized lipid deposition also drives Marangoni flow on entangled polymer solution subphases with low initial surface tensions (∼34mN/m). The fact that aerosolization of phospholipids naturally found within pulmonary surfactant can drive Marangoni flows on low surface tension liquids suggests that aerosolized lipids may be used to promote uniform pulmonary drug delivery without the need for exogenous spreading agents.
Center for Complex Fluids Engineering, Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. Electronic address: astetten@andrew.cmu.edu.
Amy Z
AZ
Stetten
Center for Complex Fluids Engineering, Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. Electronic address: gmoraca1901@gmail.com.
Grace
G
Moraca
Center for Complex Fluids Engineering, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. Electronic address: corcoranTE@upmc.edu.
Timothy E
TE
Corcoran
Center for Complex Fluids Engineering, Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. Electronic address: stn@cmu.edu.
Stephanie
S
Tristram-Nagle
Center for Complex Fluids Engineering, Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. Electronic address: sg2e@andrew.cmu.edu.
Stephen
S
Garoff
Center for Complex Fluids Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; Center for Complex Fluids Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. Electronic address: todd@andrew.cmu.edu.
Todd M
TM
Przybycien
Center for Complex Fluids Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; Center for Complex Fluids Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. Electronic address: tilton@andrew.cmu.edu.
Robert D
RD
Tilton
D015060:1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine / Q000737:chemistry*; D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D000336:Aerosols; D000818:Animals; D004134:Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine / Q000737:chemistry*; D009077:Mucins / Q000737:chemistry*; D044367:Phase Transition; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants / Q000737:chemistry*; D012212:Rheology; D012996:Solutions; D013500:Surface Tension; D013552:Swine; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D000099166:Polyacrylamides
D015060:1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine; D000180:Acrylic Resins; D000336:Aerosols; D004134:Dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine; D009077:Mucins; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants; D012996:Solutions; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes; D014867:Water; D000099166:Polyacrylamides
Aerosol; Marangoni flow; Phospholipid; Surface transport; Surfactant