Related papers: Polyelectrolyte and polyampholyte effects in synth…
By resorting to the thick-chain model we discuss how the stretching response of a polymer is influenced by the self-avoidance entailed by its finite thickness. The characterization of the force versus extension curve for a thick chain is…
Recent studies have pointed the importance of polyelectrolyte assembly in the elaboration of innovative nanomaterials. Beyond their structures, many important questions on the thermodynamics of association remain to be answered. Here, we…
We analyze solutions of strongly charged chains bridged by linkers such as multivalent ions. The gelation induced by the strong short range electrostatic attractions is dramatically suppressed by the long range electrostatic correlations…
We investigate the behavior of single polyelectrolytes in multivalent salt solutions under the action of electric fields through computer simulations. The chain is unfolded in a strong electric field and aligned parallel to the field…
We propose a framework to study the spatio-temporal evolution of liquid-liquid phase separation of weak polyelectrolytes in ionic solutions. Unlike strong polyelectrolytes, which carry a fixed charge, the charge state of weak…
Molecular dynamics simulations of diluted (~2.5 weight percent) aqueous solutions of two polyelectrolytes, namely sodium carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) and sodium poly(acrylate) (PAA) have been performed. Water and counterions were taken…
We theoretically study the polarizability and the interactions of neutral complexes consisting of a semi-flexible polyelectrolyte adsorbed onto an oppositely charged spherical colloid. In the systems we studied, the bending energy of the…
The electrostatic complexation between DOTAP-DOPC unilamellar liposomes and an oppositely charged polyelectrolyte (NaPA) has been investigated in a wide range of the liposome surface charge density. We systematically characterized the…
We have carried out experiments to probe the static and dynamic interfacial properties of $\beta$--casein monolayers spread at the air-buffer interface, and analysed these results in the context of models of weak polyampholytes.…
We present a set of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of strongly charged, flexible polyelectrolyte chains under poor solvent conditions in a salt free solution. Structural properties of the chains and of the solutions are reported. By…
The functionalities and applications of complex coacervates -- liquid condensates resulting from liquid-liquid phase separation of charged polymers -- are significantly influenced by the dispersion and aggregation states of guest…
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…
We present a theoretical model to study the effect of counterion size on the effective charge, size, and thermodynamic behavior of a single, isolated, and flexible polyelectrolyte (PE) chain. We analyze how altering counterion size modifies…
Strong coupling phenomena, such as the like charged macroions attraction, opposite charged macroions repulsion, charge renormalization or charge inversion, are known to be mediated by multivalent counterions. Most theories treat the…
We study the effect of electrostatic interactions on the distribution function of the end-to-end distance of a single polyelectrolyte chain in the rodlike limit. The extent to which the radial distribution function of a polyelectrolyte is…
Polyelectrolyte gels are a very attractive class of actuation materials with remarkable electronic and mechanical properties with a great similarity to biological contractile tissues. They consist of a polymer network with ionizable groups…
The combination of two techniques (Small Angle X-ray Scattering and Atomic Force Microscopy) has allowed us to measure in reciprocal and real space the correlation length $\xi$ of salt-free aqueous solutions of highly charged hydrophobic…
We investigate end-effects in the ion distribution around strongly charged, flexible polyelectrolytes with a quenched charge distribution by molecular dynamics simulations of dilute polyelectrolyte solutions. We take the counterions…
Multivalent ions in solutions with polyelectrolytes (PE) induce electrostatic correlations that can drastically change ion distributions around the PEs and their mutual interactions. Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, we…
We present simulations on charged polymers in poor solvent. First we investigate in detail the dilute concentration range with and without imposed extension constraints. The resulting necklace polymer conformations are analyzed in detail.…