Generation, Characterisation and Application of Nanostructured LLC-Gels

Lyotropic Liquid Crystal Gels (LCC-Gels) are a special case of complex fluids that are of interest for biomedical applications such as tissue healing applications and (trans-)dermal drug delivery systems. The gel network provides mechanical stability, while the entrapped LLC nanostructures provide an additional function, e.g. as reservoir for drugs of different polarities. LLC-Gels can be obtain either by adding a gelator to a complex fluid or by replacing the solvent of a gel by a complex fluid. If the two structures, i.e. the gel network and the complex fluid, form simultaneously but independently, the system is called “orthogonal self-assembled sytem”. [1]

In this research the focus will be on non-irritating, bio-compatible gels. To achieve the formulation of those gels, binary systems consisting of water and sugar-based surfactants which form hexagonal (H₁) and lamellar (L_α) LLCs will be gelated according to previous studies [2]. The gelators are low molecular weight gelators (LMWGs), which self-assemble reversibly into fibrillar networks and are biodegradable. The present work seeks to (a) determine whether the gelled LLC phase is an orthogonal self-assembled system; (b) adjust the rheological behaviour via the gelator concentration, the type of lyotropic LC phase, or an alignment of fibres; (c) align gel fibres by growing them in an external field or in an anisotropic matrix (H₁ or L_α).