English

Charge-Fluctuation-Induced Non-analytic Bending Rigidity

Soft Condensed Matter 2016-08-31 v2 Materials Science

Abstract

In this Letter, we consider a neutral system of mobile positive and negative charges confined on the surface of curved films. This may be an appropriate model for: i) a highly charged membrane whose counterions are confined to a sheath near its surface; ii) a membrane composed of an equimolar mixture of anionic and cationic surfactants in aqueous solution. We find that the charge fluctuations contribute a non-analytic term to the bending rigidity that varies logarithmically with the radius of curvature. This may lead to spontaneous vesicle formation, which is indeed observed in similar systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9801275,
  title  = {Charge-Fluctuation-Induced Non-analytic Bending Rigidity},
  author = {A. W. C. Lau and P. Pincus},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9801275},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

Revtex, 9 pages, no figures, submitted to PRL