MICROTUBES CREATED IN THIN LIQUID-FILMS DURING BILAYER ADHESION AND FUSION

Subsurface bilayers are found to exist at the air-water interface of s pontaneously forming vesicular solutions of sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) s ulfosuccinate, (AOT). The bilayers produce long-range repulsive forces that increase the stability of foam and emulsion films formed from th ese solutions. In addition, during film formation and adhesion of two interfaces possessing subsurface bilayers, tubular networks of wrinkle d bilayers become trapped within the film. This phenomenon is analogou s to pocket formation in lipid membrane multilayers seen during a bind ing transition, and the resulting networks slowly evolve through proce sses that mimic two-dimensional foam coarsening.