Related papers: Tuning the collapse transition of weakly charged p…
Correlated anion and cation motion can significantly reduce the overall ion conductivity in electrolytes versus the ideal conductivity calculated based on the diffusion constants alone. Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations,…
We explore interactions between equally charged surfaces, in the presence of simple salt and either neutral or monovalently charged polyampholytes. We consider the possibility of using these charged polymers as crude models of ion clusters.…
We study the salt-dependent conformations of dilute flexible polyelectrolytes in solution via computer simulations. Low concentrations of multivalent salt induce the known conformational collapse of individual polyelectrolyte chains, but as…
Polymer electrolytes typically exhibit diminished ionic conductivity due to the presence of correlation effects between the cations and anions. Microscopically, transient ionic aggregates, e.g. {\it ion-pairs}, {\it ion-triplets} or higher…
Ionic microgel particles are intriguing systems in which the properties of thermo-responsive polymeric colloids are enriched by the presence of charged groups. In order to rationalize their properties and predict the behaviour of microgel…
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…
The association of ions in electrolyte solutions at very low concentration and low temperature is studied using computer simulations and quasi-chemical ion-pairing theory. The specific case of the restricted primitive model (charged hard…
In the present article, we have studied the effect of the salt concentration (LiPF6) on transport properties and ion dynamics of blend solid polymer electrolyte (PEO PAN) prepared by solution cast technique. Fourier transform infrared…
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…
Phase transitions in polar binary mixtures can be drastically altered even by a small amount of salt. This is because the preferential solvation strongly depends on the ambient composition. Together with a summary of our research in this…
Polymer translocation experiments typically involve anionic polyelectrolytes such as DNA molecules driven through negatively charged nanopores. Quantitative modelling of polymer capture to the nanopore followed by translocation therefore…
Mixtures of weakly and strongly hydrated anions induce non-additive changes in the LCST of thermoresponsive polymers such as Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and PEO. Large-scale atomistic simulations of PNIPAM-NaI-Na$_{2}$SO$_{4}$…
Ion specificity and related Hofmeister effects, ubiquitous in aqueous systems, can have spectacular consequences in hydrated clays, where ion-specific nanoscale surface forces can determine large scale cohesive, swelling and shrinkage…
Poisson-Boltzmann theory is the cornerstone for soft matter electrostatics. We provide novel exact analytical solutions to this non-linear mean-field approach, for the diffuse layer of ions in the vicinity of a planar or a cylindrical…
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…
Ion clustering has been proposed as a mechanism leading to the peculiar 'anomalous underscreening' phenomenon seen for electrostatic interactions between charge surfaces immersed in concentrated electrolytes. These interactions have been…
In aqueous solutions, dissolved ions interact strongly with the surrounding water, thereby modifying the solution properties in an ion-specific manner. These ion-hydration interactions can be accounted for theoretically on a mean-field…
The influence of the chain degree of ionization on the adsorption of weak polyelectrolytes on neutral and on oppositely and likely charged surfaces is investigated for the first time, by means of Monte Carlo simulations with the mesoscopic…
Protein aggregation via liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) is ubiquitous in nature and intimately connects to many human diseases. Although it is widely known that the addition of salt has crucial impacts on the LLPS of protein, full…
Electrostatic interactions fundamentally govern the structure and transport of electrolytes. In concentrated electrolytes, however, electrostatic and steric correlations, together with ion-solvent coupling, give rise to complex behavior,…