Spontaneous curvature induced shape transformations of tubular polymersomes.
The behavior of tubular polymersomes is investigated within the framework of the elastic energy model. The transition from a cylindrical tube to a chain of beads connected by small necks is studied in detail. The evolution of a polymersome shape, resulting from a change of the temperature is modeled by the shape transformations caused by a change of the spontaneous curvature. Good agreement between the experiments and the theoretical calculations is found.
Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland.
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