2014 The long distance behaviour of a model of fluid membranes with orientational (hexatic) order and small surface tension is investigated. It is shown that, if orientational defects (disclinations) are neglected, the hexatic stiffness KA is not renormalized by thermal fluctuations. The renormalization flow of the rigidity modulus 03BA goes, at large KA, to a nontrivial infrared stable fixed p...

In this work, the impact of lipid lateral mobility on the steric interaction between membranes containing poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) functionalized lipids was investigated using the surface force apparatus. The force-distance profiles show the presence of electrostatic and steric repulsion that arise from the presence of negatively charged PEG functionalized lipids. Fluid-phase bilayers have h...

Energization of thylakoid membranes brings about the acidification of the lumenal aqueous phase, which activates important regulatory mechanisms. Earlier Jajoo and coworkers (2014 FEBS Lett. 588:970) have shown that low pH in isolated plant thylakoid membranes induces changes in the excitation energy distribution between the two photosystems. In order to elucidate the structural background of t...

Cell membranes are studded with protrusions that were thoroughly analyzed with electron microscopy. However, the nanometer-scale three-dimensional motions generated by cell membranes to fit the topography of foreign surfaces and initiate adhesion remain poorly understood. Here, we describe the dynamics of surface deformations displayed by monocytic cells bumping against fibronectin-coated surfa...

Organized growth of high aspect-ratio nanostructures such as membranes is interesting for opto-electronic and energy harvesting applications. Recently, we reported a new form of InAs nano-membranes grown on Si substrates with enhanced light scattering properties. In this paper we study how to tune the morphology of the membranes by changing the growth conditions. We examine the role of the V/II...

The morphological changes of phosphonate polypeptoid electrolyte membranes, poly-N-(2-ethyl)hexylglycine-block-poly-N-phosphonomethylglycine (pNehm-b-pNpmn), in hydrated and dry states were characterized by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) tomography (cryo-ET). analysis 3D tomograms revealed that the pNeh9-b-pNpm9 thin films absorbed a large amount water, resulting formatio...

A novel sulfonated polybenzimidazole/organoclay (Cloisite-30B) (SPBI/clay) nanocomposite membranes was successfully synthesized based on aromatic diacide (1) and diaminobenzidine. Nanocomposite membranes were fabricated using 1, 4-bis (hydroxymethyl) benzene (BHMB) as cross-linker, and Cloisite-30B organoclay as the pseudo cross-linker. The cross-linked SPBI/clay nanocomposite membranes were pr...

let $g$ be a connected graph with vertex set $v(g)$‎. ‎the‎ ‎degree resistance distance of $g$ is defined as $d_r(g) = sum_{{u‎,‎v} subseteq v(g)} [d(u)+d(v)] r(u,v)$‎, ‎where $d(u)$ is the degree‎ ‎of vertex $u$‎, ‎and $r(u,v)$ denotes the resistance distance between‎ ‎$u$ and $v$‎. ‎in this paper‎, ‎we characterize $n$-vertex unicyclic‎ ‎graphs having minimum and second minimum degree resista...

The effective separation of CO2 and CH4 mixtures is essential for many applications, such as biogas upgrading, natural gas sweetening or enhanced oil recovery. Membrane separations can contribute greatly in these tasks, innovative membrane materials are being developed this separation. aim work the evaluation potential two types highly CO2-permeable membranes (modified commercial polydimethylsi...

Membrane filtration, especially based on the size exclusion phenomenon, has long been established due to its abilities to addressing the growing demands of the clean water of the world’s population. However, widespread applications of the membranes face several challenges including chemical vulnerability, thermal deterioration, and biological degradation of the membranes that transpire while re...