Abstract
We show how drying under shear can be used to prepare aligned fibres and worm-like micelles from low molecular weight gelators. Shearing followed by drying leads to the dealignment before the water can be removed; continuous shear whilst drying is required to maintain the alignment. Combining a slow pH change with continuous shear allows alignment of the gelling fibres, which can then be dried.
Highlights
We show how drying under shear can be used to prepare aligned fibres and worm-like micelles from low molecular weight gelators
We have recently described a number of perylene bisimide (PBI) based gelators (Fig. 1).[11]
In an attempt at forming aligned films from our PBIs, we investigated common methods including spin coating, gravitational alignment and doctor blading
Summary
We show how drying under shear can be used to prepare aligned fibres and worm-like micelles from low molecular weight gelators. As worm-like micelles are present in the solutions of 1 (Fig. S3, ESI†),[11] if sufficient shear rate is applied, these should align with the direction of shear flow. After the solution was dry, the glass was removed from the rheometer and the sample could be viewed on the microscope where aligned rings of material can be seen (Fig. 3a).
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