Related papers: The explicit characterization of counterion dynami…
We present results of molecular dynamics simulations of strong, flexible polyelectrolyte chains in solution with added salt. The effect of added salt on the polyelectrolyte chain structure is fully treated for the first time as a function…
Ion distributions in dilute polyelectrolyte solutions are studied by means of Langevin dynamics simulations. We show that the distributions depend on the conformation of a chain while the conformation is determined by the chain stiffness…
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…
Constant temperature molecular dynamics simulations were used to study solutions of flexible polyelectrolyte chains at nonzero concentrations with explicit counterions and unscreened coulombic interactions. Counterion condensation, measured…
Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the local dynamics of counterion-charged polymer association at charge densities above and below the counterion condensation threshold. Surprisingly, the counterions form weakly-interacting…
Counterion distribution around an isolated flexible polyelectrolyte in the presence of a divalent salt is evaluated using the adsorption model [M. Muthukumar, J. Chem. Phys. {\bf 120}, 9343 (2004)] that considers Bjerrum length, salt…
We present a theoretical model to study the effect of counterion size on the effective charge, size, and thermodynamic behavior of a single, isolated, and flexible polyelectrolyte (PE) chain. We analyze how altering counterion size modifies…
Solid polymer electrolytes exhibit ion conduction and high mechanical properties, thus are promising materials for future energy storage devices. The ion conductivity in an SPE is intricately connected to salt ion distribution in the…
We perform extensive molecular dynamics simulations of a highly charged flexible polyelectrolyte (PE) chain in a poor solvent for the case when the chain is in a collapsed state and the electrostatic interactions, characterized by the…
We study the bending rigidity of highly charged stiff polyelectrolytes, for both a single chain and many chains forming a bundle. A theory is developed to account for the interplay between competitive binding of counterions and charge…
We apply extensive Molecular Dynamics simulations and analytical considerations in order to study the conformations and the effective interactions between weakly charged, flexible polyelectrolyte chains in salt-free conditions. We focus on…
We investigate end-effects in the ion distribution around strongly charged, flexible polyelectrolytes with a quenched charge distribution by molecular dynamics simulations of dilute polyelectrolyte solutions. We take the counterions…
The association between polyelectrolytes (PEs) of the same size but opposite charge is systematically studied in terms of the potential of mean force (PMF) along their center-of-mass reaction coordinate via coarse-grained, implicit-solvent,…
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,…
Using molecular dynamics simulations, it is demonstrated that monovalent counterions can induce aggregation of similarly charged rod-like polyelectrolyte chains. The critical value of the linear charge density for aggregation is shown to be…
The effective charge of a rigid polyelectrolyte (PE) approaching an oppositely charged surface is studied. The cases of a weak (annealed) and strongly charged PE with condensed counterions (such as DNA) are discussed. In the most…
The charge of a polyelectrolyte (PE) controls myriads of phenomena in biology, biotechnology, and materials science, but still remains elusive from an understanding. Considering the adsorption of counterions on an isolated PE chain, an…
We explore the mechanical response of a single polyelectrolyte chain under tension in good and poor solvents using a combination of simulation and theory. In poor solvents, where the equilibrium state of the chain is a collapsed globule, we…
Counterion adsorption on a flexible polyelectrolyte chain in a spherical cavity is considered by taking a "permuted" charge distribution on the chain so that the "adsorbed" counterions are allowed to move along the backbone. We compute the…
A new quantitative theory for polyelectrolytes in salt free dilute solutions is developed. Depending on the electrostatic interaction strength, polyelectrolytes in solutions can undergo strong stretching (with polyelectrolyte dimension…