Related papers: Polyelectrolyte and polyampholyte effects in synth…
We study the equilibrium conformations of a grafted polyelectrolyte (PE) in the presence of explicit counterions (CI) using Monte Carlo simulations. The interplay between attractive Lennard-Jones interactions (parametrized by epsilon), and…
A study of a model rod-like polyelectrolyte molecule immersed into a monovalent or divalent electrolyte is presented. Results from the hypernetted-chain/mean spherical approximation (HNC/MSA) theory, for inhomogeneous charged fluids, {\ch…
Effective electrostatic interactions between colloidal particles, coated with polyelectrolyte brushes and suspended in an electrolyte solvent, are described via linear response theory. The inner cores of the macroions are modeled as hard…
Using extensive Molecular Dynamics simulations we study the behavior of polyelectrolytes with hydrophobic side chains, which are known to form cylindrical micelles in aqueous solution. We investigate the stability of such bundles with…
The structure and stability of strongly charged complex fibers formed by complexation of a single long semi-flexible polyelectrolyte (PE) chain and many oppositely charged spherical macroions are investigated numerically at the ground-state…
Phase separation in biomolecular mixtures can result from multiple physical interactions, which may act either complementarily or antagonistically. In the case of protein-nucleic acid mixtures, charge plays a key role but can have…
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…
Polyelectrolytes under confinement are crucial for energy storage and for understanding biomolecular functions. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we analyze a polyelectrolyte solution confined between two oppositely charged planar…
The interaction between polyelectrolyte and ionic surfactant is of great importance in different areas of chemistry and biology. In this paper we present a theory of polyelectrolyte ionic-surfactant solutions. The new theory successfully…
Using a continuum description, we account for fluctuations in the ionic solvent surrounding a Gaussian, charged chain and derive an effective short-ranged potential between the charges on the chain. This potential is repulsive at short…
Biomolecular condensates such as membraneless organelles, underpinned by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), are important for physiological function, with electrostatics -- among other interaction types -- being a prominent force in…
The mechanical response of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and polyampholyte (PA) chains is vital for understanding their biological functions and designing functional materials. We investigate the force-extension behavior of a PA…
We consider the phase behavior of polymeric systems by calculating the structure factors beyond the Random Phase Approximation. The effect of this correction to the mean-field RPA structure factor is shown to be important in the case of…
In this work we investigated the question of how the molecular nature of the dielectric media and the polymer-solvent dielectric mismatch affect the collapse of a polyelectrolyte chain in solution by means of dissipative particle dynamics…
Understanding the effect of inhomogeneity on the charge regulation and dielectric properties, and how it depends on the conformational characteristics of the macromolecules is a long-standing problem. In order to address this problem, we…
Polymer electrolytes (PEs) are promising candidates for use in next-generation high-voltage batteries, as they possess advantageous elastic and electrochemical properties. However, PEs still suffer from low ionic conductivity and need to be…
We study the reentrant condensation of polyelectrolytes in dilute solutions of small multivalent salts, whose phase-transition mechanism remains poorly understood. Motivated by recent full atomic simulation results reported by the Caltech…
Starting with a model Hamiltonian, we study using the uniform expansion method conformational behavior of polyelectrolytes in the presence and absence of salt. The uniform expansion method yields all the important local length scales in the…
Polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEM) in combination with good electrolyte solvents, e.g., ionic liquids (ILs) are potential candidates for the new generation of electrochemical separators. Swelling PEM with aqueous IL solutions is one way to…
We present real-time observations by confocal microscopy of the dynamic behavior of multilamellar vesicles (MLVs), composed of charged synthetic lipids, when put in contact with oppositely charged polyelectrolyte (PE) molecules. We find…