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arXiv · 1206.0990

Shapes of hydrophobic thick membranes

Trinh X. Hoang·Jayanth R. Banavar·Amos Maritan
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Abstract

We introduce and study the behavior of a tethered membrane of non-zero thickness embedded in three dimensions subject to an effective self-attraction induced by hydrophobicity arising from the tendency to minimize the area exposed to a solvent. The phase behavior and the nature of the folded conformations are found to be quite distinct in the small and large solvent size regimes. We demonstrate spontaneous symmetry-breaking with the membrane folding along a preferential axis, when the solvent molecules are small compared to the membrane thickness. For large solvent molecule size, a local crinkling mechanism effectively shields the membrane from the solvent, even in relatively flat conformations. We discuss the binding/unbinding transition of a membrane to a wall that serves to shield the membrane from the solvent.

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Trinh X. Hoang, Jayanth R. Banavar, Amos Maritan. 2012-06-05. Shapes of hydrophobic thick membranes. https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075%2F98%2F56006

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