Measurements of the ultralow interfacial tension and surfactant film bending rigidity for micron-sized heptane droplets in bis(2-ethylhexyl) sodium sulfosuccinate-NaCl aqueous solutions were performed in a microfluidic device through the analysis of thermally driven droplet interface fluctuations. The Fourier spectrum of the stochastic droplet interface displacement was measured through bright-...

We investigate the physical reasons underlying the high monodispersity of empty virus capsids assembled in thermodynamical equilibrium in conditions of favorable pH and ionic strength. We propose that the high fidelity of the assembly results from the effective spontaneous curvature of the viral protein assemblies and the corresponding bending rigidity that penalizes curvatures which are larger...

Several numerical methods for measuring the bending rigidity and the spontaneous curvature of fluid membranes are studied using two types of meshless membrane models. The bending rigidity is estimated from the thermal undulations of planar and tubular membranes and the axial force of tubular membranes. We found a large dependence of its estimate value from the thermal undulation analysis on the...

We study the problem of folding of the regular triangular lattice in the presence of bending rigidity K and magnetic field h (conjugate to the local normal vectors to the triangles). A numerical study of the transfer matrix of the problem shows the existence of three first order transition lines in the (K, h) plane separating three phases: a folded phase, a phase frozen in the completely flat c...

Strain, bending rigidity, and adhesion are interwoven in determining how graphene responds when pulled across a substrate. Using Raman spectroscopy of circular, graphene-sealed microchambers under variable external pressure, we demonstrate that graphene is not firmly anchored to the substrate when pulled. Instead, as the suspended graphene is pushed into the chamber under pressure, the supporte...

We describe experimental studies of the deformation of giant lipid bilayer vesicles in shear flow. The experiments are carried out with a counterrotating Couette apparatus. The deformation depends on the mechanical properties of the lipid bilayer, the vesicle radius, and the viscosity of the surrounding Newtonian liquid. We show that the relevant mechanical parameter is the bending rigidity. A ...

Classical continuum mechanics is used extensively to predict the properties of nanoscale materials such as graphene. The bending rigidity, κ, is an important parameter that is used, for example, to predict the performance of graphene nanoelectromechanical devices and also ripple formation. Despite its importance, there is a large spread in the theoretical predictions of κ for few-layer graphene...

We discuss the theory of non-critical strings with extrinsic curvature embedded in a target spac d greater than one. We emphasize the analogy between 2d gravity coupled to matter and non liquid-like membranes with bending rigidity. We rst outline the exact solution for strings in dime via the double scaling limit of matrix models and then discuss the diiculties of an extension to d > from recen...

We demonstrate the use of X-ray reflectivity to probe the electron density profile normal to the interface between two polar liquids. Measurements of the interfacial width at the neat nitrobenzene/water and the neat water/2-heptanone interfaces are presented. These widths are consistent with predictions from capillary wave theory that describe thermal interfacial fluctuations determined by the ...

Membranes are two-dimensional sheets of molecules which are embedded and fluctuate in three-dimensional space. The shape and out-of-plane fluctuations of tensionless membranes are controlled by their bending rigidity. Due to their out-of-plane fluctuations, flexible membranes exhibit very different behaviour to flat two-dimensional systems. We discuss three properties of membranes: (i) the reno...