Electrophoretic Mobility of Polyelectrolytes within a Confining Well
Abstract
We present a numerical study of polyelectrolytes electrophoresing in free solution while squeezed by an axisymmetric confinement force transverse to their net displacement. Hybrid multi-particle collision dynamics and molecular dynamics simulations with mean-field finite Debye layers show that even though the polyelectrolyte chains remain "free-draining", their electrophoretic mobility increases with confinement in nanoconfining potential wells. The primary mechanism leading to the increase in mobility above the free-solution value, despite long-range hydrodynamic screening by counterion layers, is the orientation of polymer segments within Debye layers. The observed length-dependence of the electrophoretic mobility arises due to secondary effects of counterion condensation related to confinement compactification.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1504.02884,
title = {Electrophoretic Mobility of Polyelectrolytes within a Confining Well},
author = {Tyler N. Shendruk and Martin Bertrand and Gary W. Slater},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1504.02884},
year = {2016}
}