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The structure and dynamics of nanostructure films formed by mixtures of soy phosphatidylcholine and glycerol dioleate at the silicon-aqueous interface were studied by grazing incidence neutron spin echo spectroscopy (GINSES), specular and off-specular neutron reflectometry, and small-angle X-ray diffraction. Reverse hexagonal (H) and micellar cubic phase (Fd3m) layers at the solid-liquid interface have been identified with neutron reflectometry measurements. A preferred orientation of the liquid crystalline (LC) domains was observed only for the anisotropic H phase. The size of the LC domains was found to be about 1 micrometer as estimated from the width of the diffraction peaks. GINSES revealed that the cubic phase forms rather rigid films. In comparison, the H film was more flexible, appearing as a modified undulation spectrum of the cylinders due to the interaction with the substrate.

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Polymer nanogels are embedded within layers consisting of a nonlamellar liquid crystalline lipid phase to act as thermoresponsive controllers of layer compactness and hydration. As the nanogels change from the swollen to the collapsed state via a temperature trigger, they enable on-demand release of water from the mixed polymer-lipid layer while the lipid matrix remains intact. Combining stimuli-responsive polymers with responsive lipid-based mesophase systems opens up new routes in biomedical applications such as functional biomaterials, bioanalysis and drug delivery.