CONTRIBUTION OF CONVECTIVE FLUX TO UNIFORM APOFERRITIN FILM FORMATIONON A LIQUID GALLIUM SURFACE

We generated nanometer thin apoferritin films on a liquid gallium surf ace by drying wetting films of aqueous apoferritin solution, which was formed continuously by expanding the solution. The film formation pro cess had been optically visualized and then analyzed at different prot ein concentrations and expansion speed. We thus found that protein fil m formation consisted of protein adsorption to the surface coupled wit h a convective flux of proteins induced by water evaporation from the wetting film surface. We proved that a convective flux promoted film f ormation even if the included protein was in the nanometer-scale. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.