Assessing the Apparent Effective Thickness of the Supported Hybrid Bilayer Membranes Consisting of Octadecanethiol and Phospholipid by ac Impedance Spectroscopy

The electrochemical behavior of the gold electrode modified by hybrid bilayer membranes in different concentrations of Fe(CN)₆^3?/Fe(CN)₆^4? was investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry technology. The electron transfer between gold and the redox species separated by the hybrid bilayers assembly was completed by an electron tunneling process. A detailed equivalent circuit for electron transport across the HBMs is proposed. It was found that the apparent effective thickness of the hybrid bilayer membranes was lower than that of the sum of the chain length of octadecanethiol and phospholipid so some possible collapsed sites might exist at the hybrid bilayer membranes.