Gel Phase Vesicles Buckle into Specific Shapes

Abstract

Osmotic deflation of giant vesicles in the rippled gel phase P(β') gives rise to a large variety of novel faceted shapes. These shapes are also found from a numerical approach by using an elastic surface model. A shape diagram is proposed based on the model that accounts for the vesicle size and ratios of three mechanical constants: in-plane shear elasticity and compressibility (usually neglected) and out-of-plane bending of the membrane. The comparison between experimental and simulated vesicle morphologies reveals that they are governed by a typical elasticity length, of the order of 1 μm, and must be described with a large Poisson's ratio.