Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
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 ₒ either inside or outside of a hard spherical cavity of radius R₂ is calculated. The relevant features of this potential are analyzed as a function of ₒ and R₂. There is a very slow convergence towards the flat wall limit R₂. 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.
Roth et al. (Mon,) studied this question.