Figure 6. Results of thermodynamic and kinetic properties of permeation of neutral hydrophobic AuNPs through skin lipid bilayer.

(a) Free energy of permeation (dG) (b) Diffusion coefficient D(z) (c) Partition coefficient K(z) and (d) Resistance of permeation R(z) of thiol coated neutral hydrophobic AuNPs of size of 2–5 nm along the bilayer normal (z), calculated from constrained CG MD simulation. Here z = 0 correspond to the bilayer centre. Bilayers were assumed to be symmetric and profile in one leaflet (upper) was replicated in another leaflet. For color code refer to web version of the article.