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At least 19 records

Permeation of halide anions through phospholipid bilayers occurs by the solubility-diffusion mechanism

Two alternative mechanisms are frequently used to describe ionic permeation of lipid bilayers. In the first, ions partition into the hydrophobic phase and then diffuse across (the solubility-diffusion mechanism). The second mechanism assumes that ions traverse the bilayer through transient hydrophilic defects caused by thermal fluctuations (the pore mechanism). The theoretical predictions made by both models were tested for halide anions by measuring the permeability coefficients for chloride, bromide, and iodide as a function of bilayer thickness, ionic radius, and sign of charge. To vary the bilayer thickness systematically, liposomes were prepared from monounsaturated phosphatidylcholines (PC) with chain lengths between 16 and 24 carbon atoms. The fluorescent dye MQAE (N-(ethoxycarbonylmethyl)-6-methoxyquinolinium bromide) served as an indicator for halide concentration inside the liposomes and was used to follow the kinetics of halide flux across the bilayer membranes. The observed permeability coefficients ranged from 10(-9) to 10(-7) cm/s and increased as the bilayer thickness was reduced. Bromide was found to permeate approximately six times faster than chloride through bilayers of identical thickness, and iodide permeated three to four times faster than bromide. The dependence of the halide permeability coefficients on bilayer thickness and on ionic size were consistent with permeation of hydrated ions by a solubility-diffusion mechanism rather than through transient pores. Halide permeation therefore differs from that of a monovalent cation such as potassium, which has been accounted for by a combination of the two mechanisms depending on bilayer thickness.

NASA Discipline Exobiology

Molecular Dynamics of a Water-Lipid Bilayer Interface

We present results of molecular dynamics simulations of a glycerol 1-monooleate bilayer in water. The total length of analyzed trajectories is 5ns. The calculated width of the bilayer agrees well with the experimentally measured value. The interior of the membrane is in a highly disordered fluid state. Atomic density profile, orientational and conformational distribution functions, and order parameters indicate that disorder increases toward the center of the bilayer. Analysis of out-of-plane thermal fluctuations of the bilayer surfaces occurring at the time scale of the present calculations reveals that the distribution of modes agrees with predictions of the capillary wave model. Fluctuations of both bilayer surfaces are uncorrelated, yielding Gaussian distribution of instantaneous widths of the membrane. Fluctuations of the width produce transient thinning defects in the bilayer which occasionally span almost half of the membrane. The leading mechanism of these fluctuations is the orientational and conformational motion of head groups rather than vertical motion of the whole molecules. Water considerably penetrates the head group region of the bilayer but not its hydrocarbon core. The total net excess dipole moment of the interfacial water points toward the aqueous phase, but the water polarization profile is non-monotonic. Both water and head groups significantly contribute to the surface potential across the interface. The calculated sign of the surface potential is in agreement with that from experimental measurements, but the value is markedly overestimated. The structural and electrical properties of the water-bilayer system are discussed in relation to membrane functions, in particular transport of ions and nonelectrolytes across membranes.

Wilson, Michael A.

Molecular level insight into non-bilayer structure formation in thylakoid membranes: a molecular dynamics study

In oxygenic photosynthetic organisms, the light reactions are performed by protein complexes embedded in the lipid bilayer of thylakoid membranes (TMs). The organization of the bulk lipid molecules into bilayer structures provide optimal conditions for the build-up of the proton motive force (pmf) and its utilization for ATP synthesis. However, the lipid composition of TMs is dominated by the non-bilayer lipid species monogalactosyl diacylglycerol (MGDG), and functional plant TMs, besides the bilayer, contain large amounts of non-bilayer lipid phases. Bulk lipids have been shown to be associated with lumenal, stromal-side and marginal-region proteins and proposed to play roles in the self-assembly and photoprotection of the photosynthetic machinery. Furthermore, it has recently been pointed out that the generation and utilization of pmf for ATP synthesis according to the ‘protet’ or protonic charge transfer model Kell (Biochim Biophys Acta Bioenerg 1865(4):149504, 2024), requires high MGDG content Garab (Physiol Plant 177(2):e70230, 2025). In this study, to gain better insight into the structural and functional roles of MGDG, we employed all atom and coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to explore how temperature, hydration levels and varying MGDG concentrations affect the structural and dynamic properties of bilayer membranes constituted of plant thylakoid lipids. Our findings reveal that MGDG promotes increased membrane fluidity and dynamic fluctuations in membrane thickness. MGDG-rich stacked bilayers spontaneously formed inverted hexagonal phases; these transitions were enhanced at low hydration levels and at elevated but physiologically relevant temperatures. It can thus be inferred that MGDG plays important roles in heat and drought stress mechanisms.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Effect of inversion asymmetry on the superconducting and exciton condensates of bilayer graphene

Inversion asymmetry in bilayer graphene can be tuned by the displacement field. As a result, the band dispersion in biased bilayer graphene acquires flatband regions near the Dirac points along with a nontrivial band geometry. We analyze the effect of inversion asymmetry on the critical temperature and superfluid stiffness of the superconducting state of AB-stacked graphene bilayer and the exciton condensate in double layers formed by two AB-stacked graphene bilayers. We find that the geometric superfluid stiffness in bilayer graphene superconductors is negligible due to the small superconducting gap. Furthermore, since the geometric superfluid stiffness is maximized for a constant order parameter, it can be neglected in biased bilayer graphene superconductors with any pairing symmetry. In contrast, the displacement field enhances the geometric superfluid stiffness in exciton condensates. It is most prominent at low densities and high displacement fields. Here, a consequence of the geometric superfluid stiffness is a modest enhancement of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature in bilayer graphene’s exciton condensate.

BKT transition

Spontaneous Polarization Suppression of Exciton–Exciton Annihilation in Rhombohedral-Stacked Bilayer Molybdenum Disulfide

Rapid exciton–exciton annihilation (EEA) in two-dimensional semiconductors limits access to high-density excitonic regimes essential for efficient optoelectronic operation under strong excitation. Here, we show that EEA is strongly suppressed in rhombohedral (3R)-stacked MoS 2 bilayers relative to nonpolar 2H bilayers, and that this suppression is quantitatively consistent with repulsive dipole–dipole interactions between layer-polarized excitons induced by spontaneous polarization. Using ultrafast pump–probe spectroscopy, we measure an EEA rate of γ EEA = (5.03 ± 0.99) × 10 –3 cm 2 s –1 in 3R bilayers, which is approximately 18.2-fold smaller than that in monolayers and 2.9-fold smaller than that in nonpolar 2H bilayers. Despite the higher exciton diffusivity recently reported for 3R relative to 2H bilayers, the reduced EEA rate in 3R indicates a rate-limited regime governed by the close-encounter annihilation probability rather than diffusion. A rate-limited annihilation model incorporating a dipole–dipole repulsive potential captures the observed ratio γ EEA,3R /γ EEA,2H ≈ 0.35 for an exciton–exciton encounter distance of ∼1.3 nm, consistent with the bilayer exciton Bohr radius. These results indicate that spontaneous polarization in 3R-stacked bilayers can suppress nonlinear excitonic losses and provide a route toward high-density excitonics.

dipolar excitons

Permeation of protons, potassium ions, and small polar molecules through phospholipid bilayers as a function of membrane thickness

Two mechanisms have been proposed to account for solute permeation of lipid bilayers. Partitioning into the hydrophobic phase of the bilayer, followed by diffusion, is accepted by many for the permeation of water and other small neutral solutes, but transient pores have also been proposed to account for both water and ionic solute permeation. These two mechanisms make distinctively different predictions about the permeability coefficient as a function of bilayer thickness. Whereas the solubility-diffusion mechanism predicts only a modest variation related to bilayer thickness, the pore model predicts an exponential relationship. To test these models, we measured the permeability of phospholipid bilayers to protons, potassium ions, water, urea, and glycerol. Bilayers were prepared as liposomes, and thickness was varied systematically by using unsaturated lipids with chain lengths ranging from 14 to 24 carbon atoms. The permeability coefficient of water and neutral polar solutes displayed a modest dependence on bilayer thickness, with an approximately linear fivefold decrease as the carbon number varied from 14 to 24 atoms. In contrast, the permeability to protons and potassium ions decreased sharply by two orders of magnitude between 14 and 18 carbon atoms, and leveled off, when the chain length was further extended to 24 carbon atoms. The results for water and the neutral permeating solutes are best explained by the solubility-diffusion mechanism. The results for protons and potassium ions in shorter-chain lipids are consistent with the transient pore model, but better fit the theoretical line predicted by the solubility-diffusion model at longer chain lengths.

NASA Program Exobiology

Multiscale analysis of large twist ferroelectricity and swirling dislocations in bilayer hexagonal boron nitride

With its atomically thin structure and intrinsic ferroelectric properties, heterodeformed bilayer hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has gained prominence in next-generation non-volatile memory applications. However, studies to date have focused almost exclusively on small-twist bilayer hBN, leaving the question of whether ferroelectricity can persist under small heterostrain and large heterodeformation entirely unexplored. In this work, we establish the crystallographic origin of ferroelectricity in bilayer hBN configurations heterodeformed relative to high-symmetry configurations such as AA-stacking and 21.786789° twisted configurations (Σ7), using Smith normal form bicrystallography. We then demonstrate out-of-plane ferroelectricity in bilayer hBN across configurations vicinal to both the AA and Σ7 stackings. Atomistic simulations reveal that AA-vicinal systems support ferroelectricity under both small twist and small strain, with polarization switching in the latter governed by the deformation of swirling dislocations rather than the straight interface dislocations seen in the former. For Σ7-vicinal systems, where existing interatomic potentials underperform particularly under extreme out-of-plane compression, we develop a density-functional-theory-informed continuum framework—the bicrystallography-informed frame-invariant multiscale (BFIM) model, which captures out-of-plane ferroelectricity in heterodeformed configurations vicinal to Σ7 stacking. Interface dislocations in these large heterodeformed bilayer configurations exhibit markedly smaller Burgers vectors compared to interface dislocations in small-twist and small-strain bilayer hBN. The BFIM model reproduces experimental results and provides a powerful, computationally efficient framework for predicting ferroelectricity in large-unit-cell heterostructures where atomistic simulations are prohibitively expensive.

Ahmed, Md Tusher [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Cham

Mechanism of unassisted ion transport across membrane bilayers

To establish how charged species move from water to the nonpolar membrane interior and to determine the energetic and structural effects accompanying this process, we performed molecular dynamics simulations of the transport of Na+ and Cl- across a lipid bilayer located between two water lamellae. The total length of molecular dynamics trajectories generated for each ion was 10 ns. Our simulations demonstrate that permeation of ions into the membrane is accompanied by the formation of deep, asymmetric thinning defects in the bilayer, whereby polar lipid head groups and water penetrate the nonpolar membrane interior. Once the ion crosses the midplane of the bilayer the deformation "switches sides"; the initial defect slowly relaxes, and a defect forms in the outgoing side of the bilayer. As a result, the ion remains well solvated during the process; the total number of oxygen atoms from water and lipid head groups in the first solvation shell remains constant. A similar membrane deformation is formed when the ion is instantaneously inserted into the interior of the bilayer. The formation of defects considerably lowers the free energy barrier to transfer of the ion across the bilayer and, consequently, increases the permeabilities of the membrane to ions, compared to the rigid, planar structure, by approximately 14 orders of magnitude. Our results have implications for drug delivery using liposomes and peptide insertion into membranes.

NASA Discipline Exobiology

Method of fabricating lipid bilayer membranes on solid supports

The present invention provides a method of producing a planar lipid bilayer on a solid support. With this method, a solution of lipid vesicles is first deposited on the solid support. Next, the lipid vesicles are destabilized by adding an amphipathic peptide solution to the lipid vesicle solution. This destabilization leads to production of a planar lipid bilayer on the solid support. The present invention also provides a supported planar lipid bilayer, where the planar lipid bilayer is made of naturally occurring lipids and the solid support is made of unmodified gold or titanium oxide. Preferably, the supported planar lipid bilayer is continuous. The planar lipid bilayer may be made of any naturally occurring lipid or mixture of lipids, including, but not limited to phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylinsitol, cardiolipin, cholesterol, and sphingomyelin.

Cho, Nam-Joon

Mixed lipid bilayers enable enhanced stability and activity retention of Lipase A in low-pH environments

Lipase A (LipA) from Bacillus subtilis is a versatile and industrially relevant enzyme, but its activity is compromised under acidic conditions due to aggregation and deactivation. In this study, we investigated the use of mixed lipid bilayers to stabilize and improve activity retention of LipA at low pH. Attachment to lipid bilayers, particularly those containing cationic lipids, greatly enhanced the long-term stability of LipA in acidic conditions while also leading to improvements in activity. Tethering to cationic bilayers not only shifted the apparent pH activity profile toward more acidic conditions, but also significantly enhanced activity retention upon incubation at pH 6. Notably, this protective effect persisted even without direct tethering, indicating that reversible, non-covalent interactions with the bilayer surface are sufficient for long-term stability. Circular dichroism further revealed that the secondary structure of LipA was retained, while dynamic light scattering suggested that activity loss in solution was primarily due to aggregation of the native state. Together, these findings support a model in which lipid bilayers mitigate aggregation and stabilize LipA through transient interactions and electrostatic modulation of the local surface environment. Furthermore, this approach exemplifies a simple, tether-free strategy for enhancing enzyme performance in acidic or destabilizing conditions, with implications for biocatalysis, biosensing, and therapeutic delivery.

Biocatalysis

Stretching and Bending Moduli of Bilayer Films Inferred from Wrinkle Patterns

Wrinkling patterns were used to investigate the mechanical properties of thin poly­(styrene) (PS)/poly­(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and PS/gold (Au) bilayer films. Films were floated on water with a water drop on the surface to induce wrinkling. The thicknesses and thickness ratios of the films were varied over a broad range. The PS/PMMA bilayer was chosen to provide a contrast in wetting properties, with equilibrium contact angles of θPMMA = 68° and θPS = 88° with water. The PS/Au bilayer was chosen to provide a large contrast in Young’s moduli, E Au = 72 GPa and E PS = 3.4 GPa. The stretching (Y) and bending (B) moduli of the bilayer films were obtained from measurements of the length and number of wrinkles in the wrinkle patterns. The experimentally derived values of Y and B were in reasonable agreement with the values computed from the bulk Young’s moduli and the thicknesses of the two components in the bilayer. The values of Y and B did not depend on which face of the film was exposed to the water droplet or bath when the capillary stresses were considered. Thus, finite size effects from the film thicknesses were unimportant over the range of thicknesses studied, and no relative displacement of the films was found, with the films remaining well-bonded even with deformation associated with wrinkling.

Chang, Jooyoung

Photoresponsive Rotaxanes Switch Lipid Bilayer Neuromorphic Behavior with Light

A rotaxane consisting of a macrocycle ring with two azobenzene units mechanically interlocked onto a bolaamphiphilic axle was incorporated into droplet interface bilayers (DIBs). The azobenzene groups on the ring underwent quasi-reversible, photoisomerization-induced cycling between 1-E and 1-Z configurations when irradiated with 370 and 467 nm light, respectively, enabling programmable access to different history-dependent electrical behaviors from the same membrane. In the 1-E configuration, bilayers exhibited type-IIactive memristance that coincided with increasingly elevated ionic conduction, associated with progressively enhanced bilayer permeability during voltage cycling. In the 1-Z configuration, bilayers displayed type-I, passive memcapacitive behavior, reflecting tighter lipid packing and reduced ionic permeability. Photoswitching also yielded a nonvolatile, photoresponsive memcapacitor that could be modulated repetitively with negligible loss, likely via reversible changes in membrane thickness. Concurrent ohmic leakage currents across the membrane were less than 0.3%. These results agree with previous studies with increasing membrane permeability using photoswitchable rotaxanes and provide new insights into the coupling between volatile and nonvolatile memcapacitance during photoisomerization. More broadly, they demonstrate a new strategy for the manipulation of neuromorphic behaviors in soft materials using light, with implications for brain-inspired computation and sensing.

droplet interface bilayers

Charge Regulation Stabilizes the Formation of Ionic Liquid‐Based Amphiphilic Oligomer Droplet Interface Bilayers

Amphiphilic charged oligomers (oligodimethylsiloxane – methylimidazolium cation, ODMS-MIM (+) ), assemble into bilayers using the droplet interface bilayer (DIB) platform, possess similar size and functionality as phospholipid bilayers, but exhibit increased stability. The oligomer ionic headgroups (MIM (+) ) are covalently bound to monodisperse, short-chain (n = 13) hydrophobic tails (ODMS). These self-assemble as monolayer brushes at the oil–aqueous interface of water droplets that are influenced by both the charged cationic headgroups, and the nature of the covalently attached tails in the organic phase. Charge regulation (CR) stabilizes the formation of ordered, molecularly close-packed brush phases, which results in highly insulating, stable DIB membranes, with contributions from specific ion-pairing effects, Debye screening, and voltage-dependent electrocompressive stresses. In the oil phase, interactions between hexadecane, a good solvent for ODMS, and the hydrophobic tails result in extended waiting times for bilayer formation compared to phospholipid DIBs, for which hexadecane is a poor solvent. Close agreement between experimental values and predictions for two key parameters, the critical membrane thickness, h c , and maximal grafted headgroup density, Γ 0 , validate an electrostatic CR model consisting of adsorption and partial neutralization of counterions at a charged interface.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH

Developing cathode infiltration processes for all-solid-state bilayer LLZO cells

To realize the bilayer architecture of lithium lanthanum zirconate (LLZO) for application in solid-state batteries (SSBs), the scaffold structure must be optimized, and effective cathode infiltration strategies must be established. In this study, we fabricate a modified bilayer LLZO using a sacrificial layer to enhance surface porosity, and systematically investigate various cathode infiltration techniques to fill the scaffold with oxide cathode active materials (CAM). Structural characterizations showed that the sacrificial layer significantly increased open surface porosity, enabling the surface of the scaffold to be filled with CAM. To further increase infiltration depth, applying vacuum or vibration was compared, with the full-depth infiltration achieved using a sonicator-based vibration. Full cells prepared using the modified bilayer LLZO and vibration-assisted technique demonstrated successful operation. This work demonstrates a practical and scalable approach for engineering bilayer LLZO structures and integrating oxide cathodes into porous scaffolds, offering a promising pathway toward high-performance solid-state batteries.

Bilayer

Emergent Above-Gap Photoluminescence in Molecularly Engineered Hybrid Bilayer Crystals

Bilayer crystals, built by stacking two-dimensional (2D) covalent monolayers, give rise to coupled excitonic states whose properties are constrained by fixed lattice symmetry and orientation. Replacing one covalent monolayer with a 2D molecular crystal––held together by non-covalent forces––overcomes this limitation, as molecular functional groups afford tunable in-plane lattice geometry, intermolecular spacing, and interlayer coupling, providing a powerful knob for exciton engineering. Here, in this study, we report four-atom-thick hybrid bilayer crystals (HBCs) synthesized by directly growing single-crystalline PDI molecular crystal atop WS 2 monolayers, which exhibit a robust photoluminescence (PL) peak 120 meV above the WS 2 optical band gap alongside a belowgap emission. Both peaks display strong polarization anisotropy—nearing unity for the above-gap emission—and maintain a perfectly linear power-law dependence up to an excitation density of ~10 7 mW/cm 2 , indicative of coexisting localized and delocalized excitonic states. Substituting PDI with a PTCDA monolayer on WS 2 fully quenches PL, demonstrating molecular control over excitonic emission. Lattice scale ab initio GW and GW-BSE calculations reveal a significantly hybridized bilayer band structure in PDI/WS 2 that supports interlayer excitonic species both above and below the WS 2 gap with strong polarization anisotropy, in excellent agreement with experiment. Our work introduces a molecule-based bilayer platform for the bottom-up design and control of excitonic phenomena in atomically thin optoelectronic and quantum materials.

2D materials

Reducing the Strain Required for Ambient‐Pressure Superconductivity in Ruddlesden‐Popper Bilayer Nickelates

ABSTRACT The discovery of high‐temperature superconductivity in pressurized bulk Ruddlesden‐Popper (RP) bilayer nickelates has prompted the conjecture that epitaxial compressive strain might mimic essential aspects of hydrostatic pressure. The realization of superconductivity in films on SrLaAlO 4 (001) (SLAO) supports this correspondence, yet it remains unclear whether the pressure–temperature phase diagram of RP bilayer nickelates can be systematically mapped (and studied at ambient pressure) as a function of epitaxial strain. To this end, experimental access near the elusive edge of the superconducting phase boundary would provide invaluable insight into the nature of the superconducting state and the ground state from which it emerges. Here we report superconducting RP bilayer nickelates grown on LaAlO 3 (001) (LAO), where the compressive strain required for ambient‐pressure superconductivity is nearly halved to −1.2%. These films exhibit a superconducting onset above 10 K and reach zero resistance at 3 K, with normal‐state transport properties differing from those of films grown on SLAO. Our comparative study shows that strain–rather than interfacial structure is the primary factor governing the superconductivity and normal‐state properties. This work offers a new opportunity to probe emergent phenomena near the superconducting phase boundary in the strain–temperature phase diagram of RP bilayer nickelates.

Tarn, Yaoju [Department of Applied Physics Stanfor

Bilayer Electron Transport Layers for High–Performance Rigid and Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells

While great progress is being made in achieving high power conversion efficiency (PCE), durability, and reliability in rigid and flexible n–i–p perovskite solar cells (PSCs), there is still room for improvement. Among myriad ways this can be achieved, one way is to improve the processing and quality of electron transport layers (ETLs) used in PSCs. To that end, here we explore the use of SnO 2 /TiO 2 bilayer ETLs in both rigid and flexible PSCs. In the case of rigid PSCs, chemical bath deposition (CBD) is used where the bilayer architecture affords the CBD of high-quality ETL, which results in PSCs with up to 25.13% PCE and operational stability T 80 (80% of initial PCE retained) of 2220 h under 1-sun continuous illumination with maximum power-point tracking. In the case of flexible PSCs, once again, the bilayer architecture allows us to fabricate high-quality ETL using spin coating, which results in PSCs with up to 22.54% PCE and excellent mechanical durability, withstanding 20 000 bending cycles with ≈92% of the initial PCE retained. Mechanisms underlying the enhanced performance and stability/durability of rigid and flexible PSCs that use SnO 2 /TiO 2 bilayer ETLs are elucidated. Furthermore, this approach could be extended to other ETL systems for PSCs for further improvements in PCE, durability, and reliability.

14 SOLAR ENERGY

Quantum Monte Carlo Approaches to Na Intercalation on Bilayer Graphene

We have performed Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations on Na-intercalated bilayer graphene to study the evolution of electronic and optical properties upon Na intercalation into hard carbon layers. The objective was to model the optimal configuration of Na intercalation into a hard carbon matrix containing graphene regions. Our study showed that Na intercalation can be energetically stabilized at large interlayer distances (over 6 Å) in both AA- and AB-stacked bilayer graphene. In the QMC results, we found a significant band gap opening at the equilibrium interlayer distance of Na-intercalated bilayer graphene, while corresponding density functional theory (DFT) results showed no gap. This difference between DFT and QMC results indicates that the gap opening induced by Na intercalation into a hard carbon is underestimated within the DFT framework. In addition, a zigzag configuration of Na atoms was found to be energetically stable at interlayer distances up to 10 Å, leading us to predict the existence of a local minimum of Na intercalation at large interlayer distance. These computation and modeling results can provide guidance on how to synthesize and optimize hard carbon with bilayer graphene regions that permit a zigzag intercalation configuration that will maximize and stabilize sodium hosting.

Binding energy