Related papers: Self-Consistent Field study of Polyelectrolyte Bru…
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…
Understanding the effect of inhomogeneity on the charge regulation and dielectric properties, and how it depends on the conformational characteristics of the macromolecules is a long-standing problem. In order to address this problem, we…
We briefly discuss our recent field-theoretic study of polyelectrolyte complexation, which occurs in solutions of two oppositely charged polyelectrolytes. Charged systems require theoretical methods beyond the mean-field (or self-consistent…
In this paper, we study electrostatic and structural properties between pH-responsive polyelectrolyte brushes by using a strong stretching theory accounting for excluded volume interactions, the density of polyelectrolyte chargeable sites…
Polyelectrolyte (PE) brushes are widely used in biomaterials and nanotechnology to regulate surface properties and interactions. Here, we apply the electrostatic correlation augmented self-consistent field theory to investigate the…
We study a classical system of identically charged counter-ions near a planar wall carrying a uniform surface charge density. The equilibrium statistical mechanics of the system depends on a single dimensionless coupling parameter. A new…
Polymeric ionic liquids are emerging polyelectrolyte materials for modern electrochemical applications. In this paper, we propose a self-consistent field theory of the polymeric ionic liquid on a charged conductive electrode. Taking into…
We present the results of extensive numerical self-consistent field (SCF) and 3-dimensional off-lattice Monte Carlo (MC) studies of a spherical brush confined into a spherical cavity. The monomer density profile and the cavity pressure have…
The persistence length of a single, strongly charged, stiff polyelectrolyte chain is investigated theoretically. Path integral formulation is used to obtain the effective electrostatic interaction between the monomers. We find significant…
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.…
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…
Polymer brushes normally swell in a good solvent and collapse in a poor solvent. An abnormal response of polymer brushes, so-called co-nonsolvency, is the phenomenon where the brush counter-intuitively collapses in a good solvent mixture.…
Recent experiments have shown that trivalent ion, spermidine$^{3+}$, can provoke lateral microphase segregation in DNA brushes. Using molecular simulations and simple theoretical arguments, we explore the effects of trivalent counterions on…
Charged polymer brushes are layers of surface-tethered chains. Experimental systems are frequently strongly charged. Here we calculate phase diagrams for such brushes in terms of salt concentration n_s, grafting density and polymer backbone…
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…
The stretching of brushes of long polymers grafted to a planar surface is investigated byMonte Carlo simulations in the limit of very high grafting densities, as achieved in recent experiments. The monomer density profiles are shown to…
The persistence length of a single, intrinsically rigid polyelectrolyte chain, above the Manning condensation threshold is investigated theoretically in presence of added salt. Using a loop expansion method, the partition function is…
Self-Consistent Field Theory is applied to a film of cylindrical-forming block copolymer subject to a surface field which tends to align the cylinders parallel to electrical plates, and to an external electric field tending to align them…
We report dynamic and coagulation properties of a dispersion of polyelectrolyte multilayer microcapsules filled with solutions of a strong polyelectrolyte. The capsule self-diffusion coefficient in the vicinity of the wall is measured using…
Planar brushes formed by end-grafted semiflexible polyampholyte chains, each chain containing equal number of positively and negatively charged monomers is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Keeping the length of the chains…