Cell-inspired, massive electromodulation of interfacial energy dissipation

Transient electric fields across cell bilayer membranes can lead to electroporation, as well as to cell fusion, and have been extensively studied. We find that transmembrane electric fields similar to those in cells can lead to a massive, reversible modulation--by up to 200-fold--of the interfacial energy dissipation between surfaces sliding across the lipid bilayer membranes. Atomistic simulations reveal that this arises from (fully reversible) electroporation of the interfacially-confined bilayers, and formation of bilayer bridges analogous to stalks preceding intermembrane fusion. These cell-membrane-mimicking effects topologically-force the slip to partially-revert from the low-dissipation, hydrated lipid-headgroups plane to the intra-bilayer, high-dissipation acyl tail interface. Our results demonstrate that lipid bilayers under transmembrane electric fields can have striking materials-modification properties, and shed new light on membrane hemifusion.