Related papers: The collapse of linear polyelectrolyte chains in a…
We propose a detailed description of the structure of the layer formed by polyelectrolyte chains adsorbed onto an oppositely charged surface in the semi-dilute regime. We combine the mean-field Poisson-Boltzmann-Edwards theory and the…
Because micro-ions accumulate around highly charged colloidal particles in electrolyte solutions, the relevant parameter to compute their interactions is not the bare charge, but an effective (or renormalized) quantity, whose value is…
The conformations of interacting linear polymers on a dynamical planar random lattice are studied using a random two-matrix model. An exact expression for the partition function of self-avoiding chains subject to attractive contact…
We use molecular dynamics simulations to probe hydration, ion spacing, and cation-anion interaction in two sulfonated polysulfones with different ion distributions along the polymer backbone. At room temperature, these polymers remain in a…
The effective charge of a rigid polyelectrolyte (PE) approaching an oppositely charged surface is studied. The cases of a weak (annealed) and strongly charged PE with condensed counterions (such as DNA) are discussed. In the most…
We study the salt-dependent conformations of dilute flexible polyelectrolytes in solution via computer simulations. Low concentrations of multivalent salt induce the known conformational collapse of individual polyelectrolyte chains, but as…
The adsorption of highly \textit{oppositely} charged flexible polyelectrolytes (PEs) on a charged planar substrate is investigated by means of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. We study in detail the equilibrium structure of the first few PE…
We consider a statistical mechanical model of a generic flexible polyelectrolyte, comprised of identically charged monomers with long range electrostatic interactions, and short-range interactions quantified by a disorder field along the…
A simple model is presented for the appearance of attraction between two like charged polyions inside a polyelectrolyte solution. The polyions are modeled as rigid cylinders in a continuum dielectric solvent. The strong electrostatic…
In a recent Letter, Gurovitch and Sens studied the adsorption of a weakly charged polyelectrolyte chain onto an oppositely charged colloidal particle. By using a variational technique they found that the colloidal particle can adsorb a…
Complexation in symmetric solutions of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes is studied theoretically. We include polyion crosslinking due to formation of thermoreversible ionic pairs. The electrostatic free energy is calculated within the…
Charged rod-like polymers are not able to bind all their neutralizing counter-ions: a fraction of them evaporates while the others are said to be condensed. We study here counter-ion condensation and its ramifications, both numerically by…
We investigated the complexation of thermoresponsive anionic poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNiPAM) microgels and cationic $\epsilon$-polylysine ($\epsilon$-PLL) chains. By combining electrophoresis, light scattering, transmission electron…
Knots on ring polymers tend to be tight. For knots on charged polymers (polyelectrolytes), electrostatic repulsion among the monomers is considered to enhance the persistence length and further localize the knots. However, the effects of…
Conducting polymers have become standard engineering materials, used in manyelectronic devices. Despite this, there is a lack of understanding of the microscopicorigin of the conducting properties, especially at realistic device field…
Correlated anion and cation motion can significantly reduce the overall ion conductivity in electrolytes versus the ideal conductivity calculated based on the diffusion constants alone. Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations,…
Nonlinear elastic responses of short and stiff polyelectrolytes are investigated by dynamic simulations on a single molecule level. When a polyelectrolyte condensate undergoes a mechanical unfolding, two types of force-extension curves,…
We present a theory for the equilibrium structure of polyelectrolyte solutions. The main element is a simple, new optimization scheme that allows theories such as the random phase approximation (RPA) to handle the harsh repulsive forces…
We present a scaling theory describing the collapse of a homopolymer chain in poor solvent. At time t after the beginning of the collapse, the original Gaussian chain of length N is streamlined to form N/g segments of length R(t), each…
The results of a study that helps understand the mechanisms of adsorption of polyelectrolytes on particles, using numerical simulation methods, specifically the one known as dissipative particle dynamics are reported here. The adsorption of…