Figure 4.
Schematic representation of the nanostructured membrane formed by peptide amphiphiles (blue) and polyelectrolytes (red) in the case of weak aggregation (A) or strong aggregation (B) at the interface. Massive interfacial aggregation of PA leads to a hierarchical membrane structure in which nanofibers grow perpendicular to the diffusion barrier, while weak interfacial aggregation creates membranes with a cubic phase of nanosphere aggregates wrapped in polyelectrolyte chains.