Overcharging of a macroion by an oppositely charged polyelectrolyte
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-10-31 v6
Abstract
The complexation of a polyelectrolyte with an oppositely charged spherical macroion is studied for both salt free and salty solutions. When a polyelectrolyte winds around the macroion, its turns repel each other and form an almost equidistant coil. It is shown that this repulsive correlations of turns lead to the charge inversion: more polyelectrolyte winds around the macroion than it is necessary to neutralize it. The charge inversion becomes stronger with increasing concentration of salt and can exceed 100%. This paper confirms that correlations are the universal mechanism of charge inversion.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0005304,
title = {Overcharging of a macroion by an oppositely charged polyelectrolyte},
author = {T. T. Nguyen and B. I. Shklovskii},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0005304},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Monte-Carlo simulation details added. Many corrections and references added. Accepted to Physica A