4(%3)3 - Ecole nationale supérieure de chimie de Montpellier

micelles enabled the membrane to separate objects, their compressible nature and dynamic bridgesinterconnecting them ensured a self-healing system.Figure – 3.1: General representation of translocation experiments of various nano-objects carried out acrossdynamic self-healing membrane. For simplicity, only three layers of micelles are shown.The feeble and reversible bridging between the micelles presents the possibility of formation ofan instantaneous pore followed by pressure induced self-healing and ultimately its closure. Therefore, itcan be expected that an object translocating across this membrane would create a dynamic cavity alongits passage, which would close immediately as the object moves further across the membrane.3.1 THE MEMBRANE & THE EXPERIMENTAL SET-UPThe membranes used in this work had the same dimensions (4.1 cm 2 area and 1.3 µm thickness)as used for the fluid flow resistance experiments. The experimental set-up also remained essentially thesame except the fact that a finite quantity of feed solution (10 ml) was introduced into the filtration celland the compressed air supply was connected directly to it to have the required pressure changes. Asmall recipient was attached to the outlet of the cell to collect the permeates in sufficient quantities (1.5ml) to be analyzed further by the gel permeation chromatography, UV-Visible spectroscopy, PhotonCross Correlation Spectroscopy or Scanning Electron Microscopy depending upon the type of nano-76