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Seawater at the nanoscale: marine gel imaged by atomic force microscopy
Author(s) -
Radić Tea Mišić,
Svetličić Vesna,
Žutić Vera,
Boulgaropoulos Beate
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of molecular recognition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.401
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1099-1352
pISSN - 0952-3499
DOI - 10.1002/jmr.1072
Subject(s) - seawater , biopolymer , mica , atomic force microscopy , nanoscopic scale , nanotechnology , materials science , chemical engineering , microscopy , chemistry , polymer , optics , composite material , oceanography , geology , physics , engineering
The present study introduces atomic force microscopy (AFM) as a tool for characterization of marine gel network and marine biopolymers self‐assembly, not accessible by other techniques. AFM imaging of marine gel samples collected in summers 2003 and 2004 in the northern Adriatic Sea provided insight into molecular organization of gel network and associations between polysaccharide fibrils in the network. Initial stages of biopolymers self‐assembly were visualized by AFM in a phytoplankton bloom experiment performed in the same aquatorium. Based on AFM imaging and differential scanning calorimetry, the marine gel is characterized as a thermoreversible physical gel and the dominant mode of gelation as crosslinking of polysaccharide fibrils by hydrogen bonding which results in helical structures and their associations. Direct deposition of whole seawater on freshly cleaved mica followed by rinsing was the procedure that caused the least impact on the original structures of biopolymer assemblies in seawater. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.