Related papers: Like-charge polymer-membrane complexation mediated…
In a counter-ion only charged fluid, Coulomb coupling is quantified by a single dimensionless parameter. Yet, the theoretical treatment of moderately to strongly coupled charged fluids is a difficult task, central to the understanding of a…
We investigate the statistical mechanics of an inhomogeneous Coulomb fluid composed of charged particles with static polarizability. We derive the weak- and the strong-coupling approximations and evaluate the partition function in a planar…
We show that charge inversion, i.e. interfacial charges attracting counterions in excess of their own nominal charge, is a general effect that takes place in most charged systems next to aqueous solutions with multivalent ions and identify…
The behavior of mobile linkers connecting two semi-flexible charged polymers, such as polyvalent counterions connecting DNA or F-actin chains, is studied theoretically. The chain bending rigidity induces an effective repulsion between…
We theoretically study the reentrant condensation of a polyelectrolyte in the presence of an oppositely-charged surfactant,a phenomenon whose phase-transition mechanism remains under discussion. We focus on the adsorption and attraction…
We study the adsorption-desorption transition of polyelectrolyte chains onto planar, cylindrical and spherical surfaces with arbitrarily high surface charge densities by massive Monte Carlo computer simulations. We examine in detail how the…
We present a generalized theory for studying static monomer density-density correlation function (structure factor) in concentrated solutions and melts of dipolar as well as ionic polymers. The theory captures effects of electrostatic…
We have directly observed reversal of the polarity of charged surfaces in water upon the addition of tri- and quadrivalent ions using atomic force microscopy. The bulk concentration of multivalent ions at which charge inversion reversibly…
We investigate the reliability of simulations of polyelectrolyte systems in aqueous environments, simulations that are performed using an efficient multi scale coarse grained polarizable pseudo-particle particle approach, denoted as pppl,…
By molecular dynamics simulation, we study the charge inversion phenomenon of a rod macroion in the presence of polyelectrolyte counterions. We simulate electrophoresis of the macroion under an applied electric field. When both counterions…
We investigate electrostatic stability of charged droplets, modeled as permeable, charged spheres, and their encapsidation in thin, arbitrarily charged nano-shells, immersed in a neutralizing asymmetric electrolyte background. The latter…
The optimal functioning of nanopore-based biosensing tools necessitates rapid polymer capture from the ion reservoir. We identify an ionic correlation-induced transport mechanism that provides this condition without the chemical…
We consider the complexation of highly charged semiflexible polyelectrolytes with oppositely charged macroions. On the basis of scaling arguments we discuss how the resulting complexes depend on the persistence length of the…
We propose a mechanism for the stabilization/destabilization of cell membranes by multivalent ions with an emphasis on its implications for the division and fusion of cells. We find that multivalent cations preferentially adsorbed onto a…
Screening of a strongly charged macroion by its multivalent counterions can not be described in the framework of mean field Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) theory because multivalent counterions form a strongly correlated liquid (SCL) on the surface…
Understanding overcharging and charge inversion is one of the long-standing challenges in soft matter and biophysics. To study these phenomena, we employ the modified Gaussian renormalized fluctuation theory, which allows for the…
We report molecular dynamics simulation of the (overall neutral) system consisting of an immobile macroion surrounded by the electrolyte of multivalent counterions and monovalent coions. As expected theoretically, counterions adsorb on the…
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 integral equation theory of liquids to a binary mixed fluid lipid membrane, we study the membrane-mediated interactions between the macroions and the redistribution of neutral and charged lipids due to binding macroions. We find that…
Polymer chains adsorbed onto oppositely charged spherical colloidal particles can significantly modify the particle-particle interactions. For sufficient amounts of added polymers, the original electrostatic repulsion can even turn into an…