Related papers: Multi-valent Ion Mediated Polyelectrolyte Associat…
Ion-pairing is commonly considered as a culprit for the reduced ionic conductivity in polymer electrolyte systems. However, this simple thermodynamic picture should not be taken literally, as ion-pairing is a dynamical phenomenon. Here we…
We study conformational and electrophoretic properties of polyelectrolytes (PEs) in tetravalent salt solutions under the action of electric fields by means of molecular dynamics simulations. Chain conformations are found to have a sensitive…
Understanding the behavior of charged complex fluids is crucial for a plethora of important industrial, technological, and medical applications. Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, here we investigate the properties of a…
We propose a framework to study the spatio-temporal evolution of liquid-liquid phase separation of weak polyelectrolytes in ionic solutions. Unlike strong polyelectrolytes, which carry a fixed charge, the charge state of weak…
The problem of charged polymer chains (polyelectrolytes) as they adsorb on a planar surface is addressed theoretically. We review the basic mechanisms and theory underlying polyelectrolyte adsorption on a single surface in two situations:…
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…
Contamination of water by heavy metal ions represents a significant environmental concern. Among various remediation methods, chelation has proven to be an effective technique in water treatment processes. This study investigates the…
Like-charged macroions attract each other as a result of strong electrostatic correlations in the presence of multivalent counterions or at low temperatures. We investigate the effective electrostatic interaction between i) two like-charged…
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…
Synchrotron-X-ray and surface tension studies of a strong polyelectrolyte (PE) in the semi-dilute regime (~ 0.1M monomer-charges) with varying surfactant concentrations show that minute surfactant concentrations induce the formation of a…
We study the structure of complexes formed between ionic surfactants (SF) and a single oppositely charged polyelectrolyte (PE) chain. For our computer simulation we use the ``primitive'' electrolyte model: while the polyelectrolyte is…
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.…
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…
Charged soft-matter systems--such as colloidal dispersions and charged polymers--are dominated by attractive forces between constituent like-charged particles when neutralizing counterions of high charge valency are introduced. Such…
We study a solution of long polyanions (PA) with shorter polycations (PC) and focus on the role of Coulomb interaction. A good example is solutions of DNA and PC which are widely studied for gene therapy. In the solution, each PA attracts…
Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) are ion-containing solid materials composed of a polymer matrix that enables ionic transport while maintaining the mechanical stability. The conventional wisdom is that for a high ion concentration, ions…
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…
We study the attractive interactions between rod-like charged polymers in solution that appear in the presence of multi-valence counterions. The counterions condensed to the rods exhibit both a strong transversal polarization and a…
The permeation, rejection, and transport of electrolytes in water-filled nanopores are critical to ion current gating and desalinalion processes in synthetic porous membranes and the functions of biological ion channels. Mile the effects of…
The intricate role of shear viscosity and ion-pair relaxations on ionic conductivity mechanisms and the underlying changes induced by salt concentration ($c$) in organic liquid electrolytes remain poorly understood despite their widespread…