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The behavior of polyelectrolytes and polyampholytes in semi-dilute solutions is investigated theoretically. Various statistical charge distributions along the polyelectrolyte chains are considered: smeared, annealed, permuted and quenched.…
Using molecular dynamics simulations we study the behavior of a dilute solution of strongly charged polyelectrolytes in poor solvents, where we take counterions explicitly into account. We focus on the chain conformational properties under…
Phase separation in salt-free symmetric mixtures of oppositely charged rodlike polyelectrolytes is studied using quasi-analytical calculations. Stability analyses for the isotropic-isotropic and the isotropic-nematic phase transitions in…
We investigate the wrapping conformations of a strongly adsorbed polymer chain on an oppositely charged nano-sphere by employing a reduced (dimensionless) representation of a primitive chain-sphere model. This enables us to determine the…
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,…
By using the generalized version of the Shell Theorem analytical equations are derived to calculate the electric energy of a charged sphere and the field energy of the electrolyte inside and around the sphere. These electric energies are…
In this work, a comprehensive study about the influence on shear viscosity of polyelectrolyte concentration, persistence length, salt concentration and solvent quality is reported, using numerical simulations of confined solutions under…
The combination of two techniques (Small Angle X-ray Scattering and Atomic Force Microscopy) has allowed us to measure in reciprocal and real space the correlation length $\xi$ of salt-free aqueous solutions of highly charged hydrophobic…
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 report the formation of colloidal complexes resulting from the electrostatic co-assembly between anionic surfactants and cationic polyelectrolytes or block copolymers. Combining light and x-ray scattering experiments with cryogenic…
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…
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…
We study the effective interaction between differently charged polyelectrolyte-colloid complexes in electrolyte solutions via Monte Carlo simulations. These complexes are formed when short and flexible polyelectrolyte chains adsorb onto…
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…
Starting with a model Hamiltonian, we study using the uniform expansion method conformational behavior of polyelectrolytes in the presence and absence of salt. The uniform expansion method yields all the important local length scales in the…
Using a continuum description, we account for fluctuations in the ionic solvent surrounding a Gaussian, charged chain and derive an effective short-ranged potential between the charges on the chain. This potential is repulsive at short…
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…
A simple model is presented to calculate the potential of mean force between a polyion and a multivalent counterion inside a polyelectrolite solution. We find that under certain conditions the electrostatic interactions can lead to a strong…
Light scattering and viscometric measurements on weak polyelectrolytes show two important aspects of counterion condensation, namely, non-monotonic variation in the polyelectrolyte size with the increase in the electrostatic strength, and,…
The behavior of polyelectrolytes between charged surfaces immersed in semi-dilute solutions is investigated theoretically. A continuum mean field approach is used for calculating numerically concentration profiles between two electrodes…