Steered Molecular Dynamics of Lipid Membrane Indentation by Carbon and Silicon-Carbide Nanotubes—The Impact of Indenting Angle Uncertainty
Przemysław Raczyński,
Krzysztof Górny,
Piotr Bełdowski,
Steven Yuvan,
Beata Marciniak,
Zbigniew Dendzik
Affiliations
Przemysław Raczyński
Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Silesia in Katowice, 41-500 Chorzow, Poland
Krzysztof Górny
Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Silesia in Katowice, 41-500 Chorzow, Poland
Piotr Bełdowski
Department of Chemistry, Surface and Corrosion Science, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Drottning Kristinas Väg 51, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden
Steven Yuvan
Department of Physics, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA
Beata Marciniak
Faculty of Telecommunications, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, UTP University of Science and Technology, 85-796 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Zbigniew Dendzik
Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Silesia in Katowice, 41-500 Chorzow, Poland
Due to the semi-liquid nature and uneven morphologies of biological membranes, indentation may occur in a range of non-ideal conditions. These conditions are relatively unstudied and may alter the physical characteristics of the process. One of the basic challenges in the construction of nanoindenters is to appropriately align the nanotube tip and approach the membrane at a perpendicular angle. To investigate the impact of deviations from this ideal, we performed non-equilibrium steered molecular dynamics simulations of the indentation of phospholipid membranes by homogeneous CNT and non-homogeneous SiCNT indenters. We used various angles, rates, and modes of indentation, and the withdrawal of the relative indenter out of the membrane in corresponding conditions was simulated.
