Related papers: Origin of translocation barriers for polyelectroly…
A new quantitative theory for polyelectrolytes in salt free dilute solutions is developed. Depending on the electrostatic interaction strength, polyelectrolytes in solutions can undergo strong stretching (with polyelectrolyte dimension…
A weakly charged flexible polyelectrolyte chain in a neutral spherical cavity is analyzed using self-consistent field theory (SCFT) within an explicit solvent model. Assuming the radial symmetry for the system, it is found that the…
We consider the translocation of a neutral (uncharged) nanoparticle through a pore in a thin membrane with constant surface charge density. If the concomitant Debye screening layer is sufficiently thin, the resulting forces experienced by…
We find that ion creation/destruction dominates the behavior of electrochemical reaction barriers, through grand-canonical electronic structure calculations of proton-deposition on transition metal surfaces. We show that barriers respond to…
We study conformational and electrophoretic properties of polyelectrolytes (PEs) in tetravalent salt solutions under the action of electric fields by means of molecular dynamics simulations. Chain conformations are found to have a sensitive…
We theoretically study the reentrant condensation of a polyelectrolyte in the presence of an oppositely-charged surfactant,a phenomenon whose phase-transition mechanism remains under discussion. We focus on the adsorption and attraction…
The transport of polyelectrolytes confined by oppositely charged surfaces and driven by a constant electric field is of interest in studies of DNA separation according to size. Using molecular dynamics simulations that include surface…
Counterion adsorption on a flexible polyelectrolyte chain in a spherical cavity is considered by taking a "permuted" charge distribution on the chain so that the "adsorbed" counterions are allowed to move along the backbone. We compute the…
We study the properties of polyelectrolyte chains under different solvent conditions, using a variational technique. The free energy and the conformational properties of a polyelectrolyte chain are studied minimizing the free energy $F_N$,…
We present a simple description on the electrophoretic dynamics of polyelectrolytes going through designed channels with narrow constrictions of slit geometry. By analyzing rheological behaviours of the stuck chain, which is coupled to the…
We study the electrokinetics of a single polyelectrolyte chain in salt solution using hydrodynamic simulations. The salt-dependent chain mobility compares well with experimental DNA data. The mobility of condensed counterions exhibits a…
The thermal decay of linear chains from a metastable state is investigated. A crossover from rigid to elastic decay occurs when the number of particles, the single particle energy barrier or the coupling strength between the particles is…
A hydrodynamic model for determining the electrophoretic speed of a polyelectrolyte through a nanopore is presented. It is assumed that the speed is determined by a balance of electrical and viscous forces arising from within the pore and…
The formation of inter-polyelectrolyte complexes from the association of oppositely charged polymers in an electrolyte is studied. The charged polymers are linear oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, with possibly a neutral block. This…
Free energy barrier for entry of a charged polymer into a nanoscale channel by a driving electric field is studied theoretically and using molecular dynamics simulations. Dependence of the barrier height on the polymer length, the driving…
The persistence length of a single, strongly charged, stiff polyelectrolyte chain is investigated theoretically. Path integral formulation is used to obtain the effective electrostatic interaction between the monomers. We find significant…
Mean-field theory is used to model polyelectrolyte adsorption and the possibility of overcompensation of charged surfaces. For charged surfaces that are also chemically attractive, the overcharging is large in high salt conditions,…
Polyelectrolytes such as single and double stranded DNA and many synthetic polymers undergo two structural transitions upon increasing the concentration of multivalent salt or molecules. First, the expanded-stretched chains in low…
The behavior of polyelectrolytes and polyampholytes in semi-dilute solutions is investigated theoretically. Various statistical charge distributions along the polyelectrolyte chains are considered: smeared, annealed, permuted and quenched.…
Electron transport through Si-C bound alkyl chains, sandwiched between n-Si and Hg, is characterized by two distinct types of barriers, each dominating in a different voltage range. At low voltage, current depends strongly on temperature…