Electrostatic Interactions, Curvature Elasticity, and Steric Repulsion in Multimembrane Systems

Abstract

The effects of electrostatic interactions on steric repulsion and curvature elasticity are considered for dilute multimembrane systems as a function of the electrolyte strength, surface charge and inter-membrane spacing. In the strong electrolyte limit, the electrostatic interactions are screened and the steric repulsion dominates. For weak electrolytes, the electrostatic interactions cut-off the out-of-plane undulations and change significantly the membrane bending constant in qualitative agreement with recent experiments.