Enhanced roughness of lipid membranes caused by external electric fields

TL;DR

This study investigates how external electric fields increase the roughness of lipid membranes and affect their physical properties, providing insights into membrane behavior under electrical influence.

Contribution

It presents new findings on the relationship between electric fields and membrane roughness, including charge accumulation and changes in bending rigidity.

Findings

Roughness of lipid membranes increases with electric field strength.

Electric fields influence the bending rigidity of membranes.

Charge accumulation around membranes is estimated under electric fields.

Abstract

The behavior of lipid membranes in the presence of an external electric field is studied and used to examine the influence of such fields on membrane parameters such as roughness and show that for a micro sized membrane, roughness grows as the field increases. The dependence of bending rigidity on the electric field is also studied and an estimation of thickness of the accumulated charges around lipid membranes in a free-salt solution is presented.