Critical swelling of particle-encapsulating vesicles.
We consider a ubiquitous scenario where a fluctuating, semipermeable vesicle is embedded in solution while enclosing a fixed number of solute particles. The swelling with increasing number of particles or decreasing concentration of the outer solution exhibits a continuous phase transition from a fluctuating state to the maximum-volume configuration, whereupon appreciable pressure difference and surface tension build up. This criticality is unique to particle-encapsulating vesicles, whose volume and inner pressure both fluctuate. It implies a universal swelling behavior of such vesicles as they approach their limiting volume and osmotic lysis.
Haleva
Emir
E
School of Chemistry, Raymond & Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
Diamant
Haim
H