Depletion forces near curved surfaces
Abstract
Based on density functional theory the influence of curvature on the depletion potential of a single big hard sphere immersed in a fluid of small hard spheres with packing fraction ηs either inside or outside of a hard spherical cavity of radius Rc is calculated. The relevant features of this potential are analyzed as function of ηs and Rc. There is a very slow convergence towards the flat wall limit Rc ∞. Our results allow us to discuss the strength of depletion forces acting near membranes both in normal and lateral directions and to make contact with recent experimental results.
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