Minimal Bending Energies of Bilayer Polyhedra

Christoph A. Haselwandter and Rob Phillips
Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 228101 – Published 24 November 2010

Abstract

Motivated by recent experiments on bilayer polyhedra composed of amphiphilic molecules, we study the elastic bending energies of bilayer vesicles forming polyhedral shapes. Allowing for segregation of excess amphiphiles along the ridges of polyhedra, we find that bilayer polyhedra can indeed have lower bending energies than spherical bilayer vesicles. However, our analysis also implies that, contrary to what has been suggested on the basis of experiments, the snub dodecahedron, rather than the icosahedron, generally represents the energetically favorable shape of bilayer polyhedra.

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  • Received 19 July 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.228101

© 2010 The American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Christoph A. Haselwandter and Rob Phillips

  • Department of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

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Issue

Vol. 105, Iss. 22 — 26 November 2010

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