Related papers: Electrostatic inactivation of RNA viruses at air-w…
We summarize some aspects of electrostatic interactions in the context of viruses. A simplified but, within well defined limitations, reliable approach is used to derive expressions for electrostatic energies and the corresponding osmotic…
We propose a theoretical model to elucidate intermolecular electrostatic interactions between a virus and a substrate. Our model treats the virus as a homogeneous particle having surface charge and the polymer fiber of the respirator as a…
While almost any kind of face mask offers some protection against particles and pathogens of different sizes, the most efficient ones make use of a layered structure where one or more layers are electrically charged. This electret layer is…
A variational theory is developed to study electrolyte solutions, composed of interacting point-like ions in a solvent, in the presence of dielectric discontinuities and charges at the boundaries. Three important and non-linear…
Electrostatic interaction is the driving force for the encapsulation by virus coat proteins of nanoparticles such as quantum dots, gold particles and magnetic beads for, e.g., imaging and therapeutic purposes. In recent experimental work,…
The surface or contact potential at the water liquid-vapor interface is discussed in relation to determinations of absolute ion hydration free energies and distributions of ions near the interface. It is shown that, rather than the surface…
The distribution of ions at the air/water interface plays a decisive role in many natural processes. It is generally understood that polarizable ions with low charge density are surface-active, implying they sit on top of the water surface.…
We study, using Monte Carlo simulations, the interaction between charged colloidal particles confined to the air-water interface. The dependence of force on ionic strength and counterion valence is explored. For 1:1 electrolyte, we find…
Electrostatic interactions play a central role in the assembly of single-stranded RNA viruses. Under physiological conditions of salinity and acidity, virus capsid assembly requires the presence of genomic material that is oppositely…
Recently, Maassen et al. measured an appreciable pH difference between the bulk solution and the solution in the lumen of virus-like particles, self-assembled in an aqueous buffer solution containing the coat proteins of a simple plant…
The surface charge of a water interface determines many fundamental processes in physical chemistry and interface science, and it has been intensively studied for over a hundred years. We summarize experimental methods to characterize the…
The open water surface is known to be charged. Yet, the magnitude of the charge and the physical mechanism of the charging remain unclear, causing heated debates across the scientific community. Here we directly measure the charge Q of…
The notion that large electric fields at the air-water interface catalyze spontaneous chemical reactions has sparked significant debate, with far reaching implications for atmospheric chemistry and interfacial reactivity. Using vibrational…
The electrostatic interaction of metal nanoparticles with viruses is attracting great interest due to their antiviral activity and their role in enhancing the detection of viruses at ultra-low concentrations. We model the MS2 virus devoid…
We develop a clear theoretical description of radial swelling in virus-like particles which delineates the importance of electrostatic contributions to swelling in absence of any conformational changes. The model couples the elastic…
Water mediates electrostatic interactions via the orientation of its dipoles around ions, molecules, and interfaces. This induced water polarization consequently influences multiple phenomena. In particular, water polarization modulated by…
The electrostatic interaction between colloidal particles trapped at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions is studied in the limit of small inter-particle distances. Within an appropriate model exact analytic…
In the last decade, there has been a surge of experiments showing that certain chemical reactions undergo an enormous boost when taken from bulk aqueous conditions to microdroplet environments. The microscopic basis of this phenomenon…
We analyze theoretically the electrostatic interaction of surface-charged colloids at water interfaces with special attention to the experimentally relevant case of large charge densities on the colloid-water interface. Whereas linear…
We generalize the predictions for attractions between over-all neutral surfaces induced by charge fluctuations/correlations to non-uniform systems that include dielectric discontinuities, as is the case for mixed charged lipid membranes in…