title: Apparent flexoelectricity in lipid bilayer membranes due to external charge and dipolar distributions.
abstract: In this Rapid Communication we show that the interplay between the deformation geometric-nonlinearity and distributions of external charges and dipoles lead to the renormalization of the membrane's native flexoelectric response. Our work provides a framework for a mesoscopic interpretation of flexoelectricity and if necessary, artificially "design" tailored flexoelectricity in membranes. Comparisons with experiments indicate reasonable quantitative agreement.
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Ahmadpoor
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
authors: Q
authors: Q
authors: Deng
authors: Department of Mathematics and Department of Mechanical Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
authors: L P
authors: LP
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA and Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Sharma
mesh_terms: D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry*; D004560:Electricity; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D008565:Membrane Proteins