Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T01:32:01.340Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Fluctuating Interfaces: a Series of Synchrotron X-Ray Scattering Studies of Interacting Stacked Membranes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

C. R. Safinya*
Affiliation:
Exxon Research and Engineering Co. Annandale, N.J. 08801, U.S.A.
Get access

Abstract

In this paper we concentrate on fluctuation phenomena encountered in interacting multilayered fluid membranes using synchrotron x-ray scattering as the primary tool. These systems consisting of surfactant or lipidic surfaces, are prototype models for understanding the statistical behavior of fluctuating surfaces embedded in three-dimensions. In elucidating the nature of fluid membranes we stress a unique intrinsic property: in contrast to usual surfaces with finite shear moduli, where surface tension plays a central role, the free energy of these essentially tensionless surfaces is governed by their geometrical shape and its fluctuations. We present data in a new regime of stability for very dilute and flexible membranes with interlayer separations of order hundreds of Angstroms. This is in contrast to most rigid membranes where the interlayer interactions are dominated by detailed microscopic interactions such as hydration and van der Waals. We show that the stability of these dilute lamellar phases is associated with violent out-of-plane fluctuations of the membranes giving rise to an effectively large long-range repulsive interaction theoretically elucidated by Helfrich. Because of its entropic origin, this interaction is universal and we present data for two different surfactant systems. Finally, we show that this new regime is distinct from the classical regime in which largely separated membrane sheets are stabilized because of their mutual electrostatic repulsion.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Safinya, C.R., Roux, D., Smith, G.S., Sinha, S.K., Dimon, P., Clark, N.A., and Bellocq, A.M., Phys. Rev. Lett. 57 2718 (1986).Google Scholar
2. Roux, D. and Safinya, C.R., J. Phys. (Paris) 49, 307 (1988).Google Scholar
3. Smith, G.S., Sirota, E.B., Safinya, C.R., and Clark, N.A., Phys. Rev. Lett. 60, 813 (1988); G.S. Smith, C.R. Safinya, D. Roux, and N.A. Clark, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. 144, 235 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Nelson, D.R. and Peliti, L., J. Phys. (Paris) 48, 1085 (1987); R. Lipowsky and S. Leibler, Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 2541 (1986); J.A. Aronovitz and T.C. Lubensky, Phys. Rev. Lett. 60, 2634 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Helfrich, W., Z. Naturforsch. 33a, 305 (1978).Google Scholar
6. Larche, F., Appell, J., Porte, G., Bassereau, P., and Marignan, J., Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 1200 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. Schneider, M.B., Jenkins, J.T. and Webb, W.W., J. Phys. (Paris) 45, 1457 (1984).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. Helfrich, W., J. Phys. (Paris) 46, 1263 (1985); L. Peliti and S. Leibler, Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 1960 (1985).Google Scholar
9. de Gennes, P.G. and Taupin, C., J. Phys. Chem. 86, 2294 (1982); S.A. Safran, D. Roux, M.E. Cates, D. Andelman, Phys. REv. Lett. 57, 491, 1986.Google Scholar
10. Parsegian, A., Fuller, N. and Rand, R.P., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 76, 2750 (1979).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11. Roux, D. and Bellocq, A.M., Physics of Amphiphiles, edited by DeGiorgio, V. and Corti, M. (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1985).Google Scholar
12. diMeglio, J.M., Dvolaitsky, N., and Taupin, C., J. Phys. Chem. 89, 871 (1985).Google Scholar
13. Landau, L.D., in Collected Papers of Landau, L.S., edited by Haar, D.Ter (Gordon and Breach, New York, 1965), p. 209; R.E. Peierls, Helv. Phys. Acta. 7, Suppl., 81 (1934).Google Scholar
14. Caillé, A., C.R. Acad. Sci. Ser. B274, 891 (1972).Google Scholar
15. Mochrie, S.G.J., Kortan, A.R., Birgeneau, R.J., and Horn, P.M., Z. Phys. B 62, 79 (1985).Google Scholar
16. Safinya, C.R., Sirota, E.B., Roux, D., Smith, G.S., Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett., Oct. 1988.Google Scholar