Related papers: Counterion Condensation in Strong, Flexible Polyel…
We present an experimentally guided, multi-phase, multi-species polyelectrolyte gel model to make quantitative predictions on the electro-chemical properties of articular cartilage. The mixture theory consists of two different types of…
When electrolyte solutions are confined in micro- and nanochannels their conductivity is significantly different from those in a bulk phase. Here we revisit the theory of this phenomenon by focusing attention on the reduction in the ion…
We investigate the phenomenon of multilayer formation via layer-by-layer deposition of alternating charge polyelectrolytes. Using mean-field theory, we find that a strong short-range attraction between the two types of polymer chains is…
We provide numerical evidence that hydrodynamic interactions are screened for charged polymers in salt solution on time scales below the Zimm time. At very short times, a crossover to hydrodynamic behavior is observed. Our conclusions are…
Despite the ubiquity of aqueous electrolytes, the effect of salt on water organization remains controversial. We introduce a nonlocal and nonlinear field theory for the nanoscale polarization of ions and water and derive the electrolyte…
Stretching dynamics of polymers in microfluidics is of particular interest for polymer scientists. As a charged polymer, a polyelectrolyte can be deformed from its coiled equilibrium configuration to an extended chain by applying uniform or…
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…
The effects of ionic ordering in DNA water solutions are studied by conductivity experiments. The conductivity measurements are performed for the solutions of DNA with KCl salt in the temperature range from 28 to 70 C. Salt concentration…
The behavior of mobile linkers connecting two semi-flexible charged polymers, such as polyvalent counterions connecting DNA or F-actin chains, is studied theoretically. The chain bending rigidity induces an effective repulsion between…
We have modeled the layer-by-layer assembly process of flexible polyelectrolytes on flat surfaces. The multilayer has a three-zone structure. An exponential growth is found for the first several layers, followed by a linear growth for…
The formation of complexes between like-charged polyelectrolytes challenges conventional electrostatic intuition and highlights the central role of ions in mediating macromolecular organization. Here, we investigate the salt-dependent…
The electrostatic double layer force is key to determining the stability and self-assembly of charged colloids and many other soft matter systems. Fully understanding the attractive force between two like-charged surfaces remains a great…
Solid-state batteries (SSB) are emerging as next-generation electrochemical energy storage devices. Achieving high energy density in SSB relies on solid polymer electrolytes (SPE) that are electrochemically stable against both lithium metal…
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…
Dissolved ions can alter the local permittivity of water, nevertheless most theories and simulations ignore this fact. We present a novel algorithm for treating spatial and temporal variations in the permittivity and use it to measure the…
We present a numerical study of polyelectrolytes electrophoresing in free solution while squeezed by an axisymmetric confinement force transverse to their net displacement. Hybrid multi-particle collision dynamics and molecular dynamics…
Salt transport in bulk electrolytes is limited by diffusion and convection, but in microstructures with charged surfaces (e.g. microfluidic devices, porous media, soils, or biological tissues) surface conduction and electro-osmotic flow…
The subtle interplay between critical phenomena and electrostatics is investigated by considering the effective force acting on two parallel walls confining a near-critical binary liquid mixture with added salt. The ion-solvent coupling can…
We employ monomer-resolved Molecular Dynamics simulations and theoretical considerations to analyze the conformations of multiarm polyelectrolyte stars close to planar, uncharged walls. We identify three mechanisms that contribute to the…
We consider the thermodynamics of a uniformly charged polyelectrolyte with harmonic bonds. For such a system there is at high temperatures an approximate scaling of global properties like the end-to-end distance and the interaction energy…