Related papers: Cell Model Approaches for Predicting the Swelling …
We develop a double mean-field theory for charged macrogels immersed in electrolyte solutions in the spirit of the cell model approach. We first demonstrate that the equilibrium sampling of a single explicit coarse-grained charged polymer…
We present an experimentally guided, multi-phase, multi-species polyelectrolyte gel model to make quantitative predictions on the electro-chemical properties of articular cartilage. The mixture theory consists of two different types of…
Thermodynamic properties of charge-stabilised colloidal suspensions are commonly modeled by implementing the mean-field Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) theory within a cell model. This approach models a bulk system by a single macroion, together…
We study theoretically using scaling arguments the behavior of polyelectrolyte gels in poor solvents. Following the classical picture of Katchalsky, our approach is based on single chain elasticity but it accounts for the recently proposed…
We study the effects of charge-regulated acid/base equilibrium on the swelling of polyelectrolyte gels, by considering a combination of the Poisson-Boltzmann theory and a two-site charge-regulation model based on the Langmuir adsorption…
In this study we use non-equilibrium thermodynamics to systematically derive a phase-field model of a polyelectrolyte gel coupled to a hydrodynamic model for a salt solution surrounding the gel. The governing equations for the gel account…
We present a soft-potential-enhanced Poisson-Boltzmann (SPB) theory to efficiently capture ion distributions and electrostatic potential around rodlike charged macromolecules. The SPB model is calibrated with a coarse-grained particle-based…
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…
1. Introduction 2. Charged chains at infinite dilution - asymptotic properties 2.1 Definition of the model and Flory-like calculation 2.2 Variational approaches 2.3 Renormalization group calculations 2.4 Screening of electrostatic…
The Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) equation provides a mean-field theory of electrolyte solutions at interfaces and in confinement, describing how ions reorganize close to charged surfaces to form the so-called electrical double layer (EDL), with…
The cell-model and its treatment on the Poisson-Boltzmann level are two important concepts in the theoretical description of charged macromolecules. In this brief contribution to the Proceedings of the NATO-ASI on ``Electrostatic Effects in…
We investigate the phenomenon of counterion condensation in a solution of highly charged rigid polyelectrolytes within the cell model. A method is proposed which -- based on the charge distribution function -- identifies both the fraction…
The electrophoretic behaviour of flexible polyelectrolyte chains ranging from single monomers up to long fragments of hundred repeat units is studied by a mesoscopic simulation approach. Abstracting from the atomistic details of the…
We analyse the dynamics of different routes to collapse of a constrained polyelectrolyte gel in contact with an ionic bath. The evolution of the gel is described by a model that incorporates non-linear elasticity, Stefan-Maxwell diffusion…
We have investigated a single charged microgel in aqueous solution with a combined simulational model and Poisson-Boltzmann theory. In the simulations we use a coarse-grained charged bead-spring model in a dielectric continuum, with…
We use the recently developed soft-potential-enhanced Poisson-Boltzmann (SPB) theory to study the interaction between two parallel polyelectrolytes (PEs) in monovalent ionic solutions in the weak-coupling regime. The SPB theory is fitted to…
We present the theory and implementation of a Poisson-Boltzmann implicit solvation model for electrolyte solutions. This model can be combined with arbitrary electronic structure methods that provide an accurate charge density of the…
Properties of polyelectrolytes in tetravalent salt solutions are intensively investigated by a coarse-grained model. The concentration of salt and the size of tetravalent counterions are found playing a decisive role on chain properties. If…
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…
The description of a conducting medium in thermal equilibrium, such as an electrolyte solution or a plasma, involves nonlinear electrostatics, a subject rarely discussed in the standard electricity and magnetism textbooks. We consider in…