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Deformation of bilayer lipid membranes in bio‐inspired materials and systems
Author(s) -
Vita Raffaella De,
Stewart Iain W.,
Leo Donald J.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
pamm
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1617-7061
DOI - 10.1002/pamm.200700652
Subject(s) - membrane , liquid crystal , bilayer , perpendicular , lipid bilayer , planar , boundary value problem , materials science , biological membrane , elastic energy , chemical physics , mechanics , chemistry , thermodynamics , physics , condensed matter physics , geometry , mathematical analysis , mathematics , biochemistry , computer graphics (images) , computer science
Planar bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs) are currently employed to construct many bio‐inspired material systems and structures. In order to characterize the pressure effects on the equilibrium configurations of these biological membranes, a novel continuum model is proposed. The BLM is assumed to be a two‐layer Smectic A liquid crystal. The mean orientation of the amphiphilic molecules comprising the membrane is postulated to be perpendicular to the layers and each layer is idealized as a two dimensional liquid. Moreover, the BLM is modeled as a simply supported plate undergoing small deformations. It is subjected to a pressure load that acts perpendicularly to the layers. The equilibrium equations and boundary conditions are derived from the bulk elastic energy for Smectic A liquid crystals as described by de Gennes and Prost (1993) by using variational methods. The resulting fourth‐order linear partial differential equation is solved by employing cylindrical functions and the series solution is proved to be convergent. The solution is numerically computed for values of the model parameters that are reported in the literature. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)