Related papers: Unfolding Collapsed Polyelectrolytes in Alternatin…
The formation of coacervates through phase separation of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes (PEs) is critical for understanding biological condensates and developing responsive materials. Traditionally, coacervates are viewed as spherical…
There is a large body of literature investigating the static and dynamic properties of polyelectrolytes due both to their widespread application in industrial processes and their ubiquitous presence in biology. Because of their highly…
A lattice of uniformly charged, infinitesimally thin, rods decorated with an ordered array of counterions exhibits anomalous behavior as the spacing between the rods is varied. In particular, the counterion lattice undergoes a sequence of…
A statistical mechanical description of flexible and semi-flexible polymer chains in a poor solvent is developed in the constant force and constant distance ensembles. We predict the existence of many intermediate states at low temperatures…
We investigate the phenomenon of multilayer formation via layer-by-layer deposition of alternating charge polyelectrolytes. Using mean-field theory, we find that a strong short-range attraction between the two types of polymer chains is…
Reconnection physics at micro-scales is investigated in an electron magnetohydrodynamics frame. A new process of collapse of the neutral current sheet is demonstrated by means of analytical and numerical solutions. It shows how at scales…
We study the elastic properties of a single A/B copolymer chain with a specific sequence. We predict a rich structure in the force extension relations which can be addressed to the sequence. The variational method is introduced to probe…
Constant temperature molecular dynamics simulations were used to study solutions of flexible polyelectrolyte chains at nonzero concentrations with explicit counterions and unscreened coulombic interactions. Counterion condensation, measured…
Bending rigidity of a charged membrane or a charged polyelectrolyte screened by monovalent counterions is known to be enhanced by electrostatic effects. We show that in the case of screening by multivalent counterions the electrostatic…
Recent experiments have shown that trivalent ion, spermidine$^{3+}$, can provoke lateral microphase segregation in DNA brushes. Using molecular simulations and simple theoretical arguments, we explore the effects of trivalent counterions on…
We study the effects of charge-regulated acid/base equilibrium on the swelling of polyelectrolyte gels, by considering a combination of the Poisson-Boltzmann theory and a two-site charge-regulation model based on the Langmuir adsorption…
We explore the force generation and surface interactions arising when electric fields are applied across fluid films. Using a surface force balance (SFB) we measure directly the force between two electrodes in crossed-cylinder geometry…
We address the effects of chain connectivity on electrostatic fluctuations in polyelectrolyte solutions using a field-theoretic, renormalized Gaussian fluctuation (RGF) theory. As in simple electrolyte solutions (Z.-G. Wang, Phys. Rev. E.…
We describe the Paired Electron Crystal (PEC) which occurs in the interacting frustrated two-dimensional 1/4-filled band. The PEC is a charge-ordered state with nearest-neighbor spin singlets separated by pairs of vacant sites, and can be…
We briefly discuss our recent field-theoretic study of polyelectrolyte complexation, which occurs in solutions of two oppositely charged polyelectrolytes. Charged systems require theoretical methods beyond the mean-field (or self-consistent…
Relevant information about the nature of the dynamics of ions in electrolytes can be obtained by studying the nonlinear dependence on an applied electric field. Here we use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the field effects for…
Experimental results from mechanical viscoelastic as well as dielectric relaxation times were compared to theoretical expectations utilizing polymer scaling theory. Viscoelastic relaxation of a hydrogel at 33% relative humidity fabricated…
Monte Carlo simulations were employed to study two charged rods confined between two unlike charged plates, all immersed in a model electrolyte. Recently, it was shown that two rods immersed in a multivalent counterion solution may show…
We study the response of single nanosized spherical colloids in electrolyte solution to an alternating electric field (AC field) by computer simulations. We use a coarse-grained mesoscopic simulation approach that accounts in full for…
Effect of molecular crowding and confinement experienced by protein in the cell during unfolding has been studied by modeling a linear polymer chain on a percolation cluster. It is known that internal structure of the cell changes in time,…