Repulsion Between Inorganic Particles Inserted Within Surfactant Bilayers

Abstract

We study by synchrotron small-angle x-ray scattering highly aligned lamellar phases of a zwitterionic surfactant, doped with monodisperse and spherical hydrophobic inorganic particles as a function of particle concentration. Analysis of the structure factor of the two-dimensional fluid formed by the particles in the plane of the bilayer gives access to their membrane-mediated interaction, which is repulsive, with a contact value of about 4k${}_{\text{B}}$T and a range of 14 Å. Systematic application of this technique should lead to a better understanding of the interaction between membrane inclusions.

References in corpus (1)

• Interaction of Alamethicin Pores in DMPC Bilayers

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Membrane-mediated repulsion between gramicidin pores
• The interaction of hybrid nanoparticles inserted within surfactant bilayers