Work

Chiral edge fluctuations of colloidal membranes

Year: 2017

Type: article

Abstract: We study edge fluctuations of a flat colloidal membrane comprised of a monolayer of aligned filamentous viruses. Experiments reveal that a peak in the spectrum of the in-plane edge fluctuations arises for sufficiently strong virus chirality. Accounting for internal liquid crystalline degrees of freedom by the length, curvature, and geodesic torsion of the edge, we calculate the spectrum of the edge fluctuations. The theory quantitatively describes the experimental data, demonstrating that chirality couples in-plane and out-of-plane edge fluctuations to produce the peak.

Source: Physical review. E

DOI: 10.1103/physreve.95.060701

Authors: Leroy L. Jia, Mark J. Zakhary, Zvonimir Dogic, Robert A. Pelcovits, Thomas R. Powers

Institutions: Brown University, Brandeis University

Language: English

Topic: Lipid Membrane Structure and Behavior

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Science Foundation

Awards: Bioinspired Soft Materials, Colloidal membranes and assembly of heterogeneous 2D materials, Mechanics of Colloidal Membranes