Poisson's ratio and Young's modulus of lipid bilayers in different phases

• Main Authors: Tayebeh eJadidi, Hamid eSeyyed-Allaei, M. Reza eRahimi Tabar, Alireza eMashaghi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-04-01
• Series: Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
• Subjects: Lipid bilayer; soft matter; Young's modulus; Poisson's ratio; Membrane mechanics
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fbioe.2014.00008/full
• ISSN: 2296-4185

A general computational method is introduced to estimate the Poisson's ratio for membranes with small thickness.<br/>In this method, the Poisson's ratio is calculated by utilizing a rescaling of inter-particle distances<br/>in one lateral direction under periodic boundary conditions. As an example <br/>for the coarse grained lipid model introduced by Lenz and Schmid, <br/>we calculate the Poisson's ratio in the gel, fluid, and interdigitated phases. <br/>Having the Poisson's ratio, enable us to obtain the Young's modulus for the membranes in different phases. <br/>The approach may be applied to other membranes such as graphene and tethered membranes in order<br/>to predict the temperature dependence of its Poisson's ratio and Young's modulus.<br/>