Related papers: Like-charge attraction and opposite-charge decompl…
Understanding the behavior of charged complex fluids is crucial for a plethora of important industrial, technological, and medical applications. Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, here we investigate the properties of a…
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…
The persistence length of a single, intrinsically rigid polyelectrolyte chain, above the Manning condensation threshold is investigated theoretically in presence of added salt. Using a loop expansion method, the partition function is…
The existence of attractions between like-charged colloids immersed in ionic solution have been discovered in recent experiments. This phenomenon contradicts the predictions of DLVO theory and indicates a failure of mean field theory. We…
Ionic behaviors, including ion distributions and hydration characteristics at solid-liquid interfaces, are important research interests in many important applications, such as electric double-layer capacitors and water lubrication. Here, we…
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…
Interplay of Coulomb interaction energy, free ion entropy, and conformational elasticity is a fascinating aspect in polyelectrolytes (PEs). We develop a theory for complexation of two oppositely charged PEs, a process known to be the…
We studied the electrical conductivity of DNA molecules with conducting atomic force microscopy as a function of the chemical nature of the substrate surfaces, the nature of the electrical contact, and the number of DNA molecules (from a…
We investigate the collapse kinetics of charged polymers (polyelectrolytes) induced by counterion condensation using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations. Under good solvent conditions, polyelectrolytes above the critical charge…
This study reveals that, in strong coulomb coupling regime, bending a straight and fully overcharged DNA (up to its maximal acceptance by multivalent counterions) to a circle releases some of the adsorbed (correlated)counterions but still…
We present a simple analytical theory of flexible polymer chain dissolved in a good solvent, carrying permanent freely oriented dipoles on the monomers. We take into account the dipole correlations within the random phase approximation…
Simple expressions for the bending and the base-stacking energy of double-stranded semiflexible biopolymers (such as DNA and actin) are derived. The distribution of the folding angle between the two strands is obtained by solving a…
It is general wisdom that likely charged colloidal particles repel each other when suspended in liquids. This is in perfect agreement with mean field theories being developed more than 60 years ago. Accordingly, it was a big surprise when…
Trapping, linearization, and imaging of single molecule DNA is of broad interest to both biophysicists who study polymer physics and engineers who build nucleic acid analyzing methods such as optical mapping. In this study, single DNA…
This paper aims at a comprehensive understanding on the novel elastic property of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) discovered very recently through single-molecule manipulation techniques. A general elastic model for double-stranded biopolymers…
The effect of electrostatic interactions on the stretching of DNA is investigated using a simple worm like chain model. In the limit of small force there are large conformational fluctuations which are treated using a self-consistent…
Similarly-charged polyelectrolytes are known to attract each other and aggregate into bundles when the charge density of the polymers exceeds a critical value that depends on the valency of the counterions. The dynamics of aggregation of…
We report measurements of turbulent drag reduction of two different polyelectrolyte solutions: DNA and hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide. Changing the salt concentration in the solutions allows us to change the flexibility of the polymer chains.…
Intracellular positive ions neutralise negative charges on the phosphates of a DNA strand conferring greater strength on the hydrogen bonds that connect complementary strands into a double helix and so confer enhanced stability. Beyond a…
Experiments have revealed correlation-driven behavior of DNA in charged solutions, including charge inversion and condensation. This paper presents calculations of a lattice-gas model of charge inversion for the adsorption of charged dimers…