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Updated: Jun 15, 2026

Fabrication Procedures and Birefringence Measurements for Designing Magnetically Responsive Lanthanide Ion Chelating Phospholipid Assemblies
Published on: January 3, 2018
Controlled alignment of lamellar lyotropic mesophases by rotation in a magnetic field
Paweł W Majewski1, Chinedum O Osuji
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
Abstract:
We demonstrate a versatile approach to align lamellar lyotropic mesophases with the use of magnetic fields. It is based on continuous rotation of the sample on an axis perpendicular to the magnetic field direction during a single cooling ramp across the order-disorder transition of the system. The process yields materials with near-perfect, nondegenerate alignment of lamellar stacks along the axis of rotation. We use a model tetraethylene glycol dodecyl ether-water system to investigate the influence of magnetic field strength, cooling rate and the speed of sample rotation on the degree of alignment as quantitatively determined by small-angle X-ray scattering. This approach offers broad utility for the alignment of other soft mesophases relevant in several emerging applications.
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