Dynamics of Domain Growth in Self-Assembled Fluid Vesicles

TL;DR

This paper investigates the phase separation dynamics in multi-component bilayer fluid vesicles using large-scale dissipative particle dynamics, highlighting the effects of hydrodynamics and area-to-volume constraints on various morphological regimes.

Contribution

It provides the first numerical analysis of hydrodynamics and area-to-volume effects on vesicle phase separation dynamics.

Findings

Identified regimes of coalescence, budding, and vesiculation.

Area-to-volume constraints significantly influence regime crossovers.

Hydrodynamics impacts the phase separation behavior.

Abstract

The dynamics of phase separation in multi-component bilayer fluid vesicles is investigated by means of large-scale dissipative particle dynamics. The model explicitly accounts for solvent particles, thereby allowing for the very first numerical investigation of the effects of hydrodynamics and area-to-volume constraints. We observed regimes corresponding to coalescence of flat patches, budding and vesiculation, and coalescence of caps. We point out that the area-to-volume constraint has a strong influence on crossovers between these regimes.