Related papers: Porous membranes built up from hydrophilic poly(io…
Osmotically driven flow across a semi-permeable membrane under a constant static pressure difference is revisited with referring to the previous reports for reverse osmosis. A few mathematical techniques for obtaining the approximate…
For regulated exocytosis, we model the morphology and dynamics of the making of the fusion pore or porosome as a cup-shaped lipoprotein structure (a dimple or pit) on the cytosol side of the plasma membrane. We describe the forming of the…
A field theoretic variational approach is introduced to study ion penetration into water-filled cylindrical nanopores in equilibrium with a bulk reservoir. It is shown that (i) an ion located in a neutral pore undergoes two opposing…
Ceramic based materials covered with a mixture of mullite and zircon on the top, strengthened by the addition of zinc and magnesium compounds at different rates (37 % and 50 %) and made by a co-precipitation method are studied. The…
The bulk phase behavior of a fluid is typically altered when the fluid is brought into confinement by the walls of a random porous medium. Inside the porous medium, phase transition points are shifted, or may disappear altogether. A crucial…
We investigate mathematical properties of the system of nonlinear partial differential equations that describe, under certain simplifying assumptions, evolutionary processes in water-saturated granular materials. The unconsolidated solid…
Biomimetic membranes in contact with a planar substrate or a second membrane are studied theoretically. The membranes contain specific adhesion molecules (stickers) which are attracted by the second surface. In the absence of stickers, the…
Ion channels form pores across the lipid bilayer, selectively allowing inorganic ions to cross the membrane down their electrochemical gradient. While the study of ion desolvation free-energies have attracted much attention, the role of…
In this tutorial we discuss the chemical potential of ions in water (i.e., in a salt solution, in an electrolyte phase) and inside (charged) nanoporous materials such as porous membranes. In water treatment, such membranes are often used to…
We show that during evaporation of a pore network, liquid can refill the gas occupied pores, snapping off a gas bubble, which then moves to a stable configuration. This phenomenon is induced by the capillary instability due to the…
We describe a concept that has the potential to change how we think about the underlying mechanisms of cell membrane electroporation (EP). Prior experimental, theoretical and modeling have emphasized a single pore lifetime as adequate for…
Hydrogels are promising systems for separation applications due to their structural characteristics (i.e. hydrophilicity and porosity). In our study, we investigate the permeation of suspensions of rigid latex particles of different sizes…
In these lectures I discuss long-scale properties of fluctuating polymerized membranes in the presence of network anisotropy and random heterogeneities. Amazingly, even infinitesimal amount of these seemingly innocuous but physically…
Micromotor and nanomotor particles are typically made using dense solid particles that can sediment or be trapped in confined flow environments. Creation of much larger motors should be possible if a very low-density system is used with…
Biological membranes are shaped by various proteins that either generate inward or outward membrane curvature. In this article, we investigate the membrane morphologies induced by mixtures of arc-shaped particles with coarse-grained…
Membranes act as selective barriers and play an important role in processes such as cellular compartmentalization and industrial-scale chemical and gas purification. The ideal membrane should be as thin as possible to maximize flux,…
We propose a mechanism for the stabilization/destabilization of cell membranes by multivalent ions with an emphasis on its implications for the division and fusion of cells. We find that multivalent cations preferentially adsorbed onto a…
Formation and rupture of vesicles is a fundamental process underlying diverse phenomena in biology, materials science, and biomedical applications. Vesicles form when the area of a growing disk-like membrane exceeds a critical value at…
Electroosmotic pumping of fluid through a nanopore that traverses an insulating membrane is considered. The density of surface charge on the membrane is assumed uniform, and sufficiently low for the Poisson-Boltzmann equation to be…
There are a great many proteins that localize to and collectively generate curvature in biological fluid membranes. We study changes in the topology of fluid membranes due to the presence of highly anisotropic, curvature-inducing proteins.…