Molecular resolution of a dioleoyl-Sn-glycero-phosphocholine lipid bilayer in liquid by phase modulation atomic force microscopy

We present a molecular resolved image of a supported lipid bilayer using atomic force microscopy in liquid conditions. Due to the well-known molecular diffusion processes with velocities of a few nm/s occurring in free-standing membranes, this type of mapping is difficult to achieve. We have obtained a sub-nanometer scale resolution of a dioleoyl-sn-glycero-phosphocholine membrane because of the high sensitivity of our phase modulated microscope and the slowed down diffusion due to the interaction with the substrate. A pair function analysis has revealed local disordered and gel phases with an order range limited to the first neighbour.