Design of Highly Stable Echogenic Microbubbles through Controlled Assembly of Their Hydrophobin Shell

Abstract

Dispersing hydrophobin HFBII under air saturated with perfluorohexane gas limits HFBII aggregation to nanometer-sizes. Critical basic findings include an unusual co-adsorption effect caused by the fluorocarbon gas, a strong acceleration of HFBII adsorption at the air/water interface, the incorporation of perfluorohexane into the interfacial film, the suppression of the fluid-to-solid 2D phase transition exhibited by HFBII monolayers under air, and a drastic change in film elasticity of both Gibbs and Langmuir films. As a result, perfluorohexane allows the formation of homogenous populations of spherical, narrowly dispersed, exceptionally stable, and echogenic microbubbles.

Keywords: echogenicity; fluorocarbons; hydrophobin; interfacial films; ultrasound imaging.