Charge regulation radically modifies electrostatics in membrane stacks
- Motivated by biological membrane-containing organelles in plants and photosynthetic bacteria, we study charge regulation in a model membrane stack. Considering (de)protonation as the simplest mechanism of charge equilibration between the membranes and with the bathing environment, we uncover a symmetry-broken charge state in the stack with a quasiperiodic effective charge sequence. In the case of a monovalent bathing salt solution our model predicts complex, inhomogeneous charge equilibria depending on the strength of the (de)protonation reaction, salt concentration, and membrane size. Our results shed light on the basic reorganization mechanism of thylakoid membrane stacks.
Author: | Arghya Majee, Markus Bier, Ralf Blossey, Rudolf Podgornik |
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Persistent identifier: | https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.100.050601 |
Parent Title (English): | Physical Review E |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Year of publication: | 2019 |
Publishing Institution: | Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Würzburg-Schweinfurt |
Release Date: | 2023/06/19 |
Tag: | Applications of soft matter, Classical statistical mechanics, Electrostatic double layer forces, Electrostatic interactions, Charged colloids, Complex fluids, Interfaces, Polymers & Soft Matter, Statistical Physics |
Volume: | 100 |
Issue: | 5 |
First Page: | 050601 |
Institutes and faculty: | Fakultäten / Fakultät für angewandte Natur- und Geisteswissenschaften |