Related papers: Discrete solvent effects on the effective interact…
We present a continuum theory of electrolytes composed of a waterlike solvent and univalent ions. First, we start with a density functional $\cal F$ for the coarse-grained solvent, cation, and anion densities, including the Debye-H\"uckel…
Recent progress in the understanding of the effect of electrostatics in soft matter is presented. A vast amount of materials contains ions ranging from the molecular scale (e.g., electrolyte) to the meso/macroscopic one (e.g., charged…
Thermodynamic properties of charge-stabilised colloidal suspensions depend sensitively on the effective charge of the macroions, which can be substantially lower than the bare charge in the case of strong counterion-macroion association. A…
We calculate the interaction potential between two colloids immersed in an aqueous mixture containing salt near or above the critical temperature. We find an attractive interaction far from the coexistence curve due to the combination of…
Solvation effect might have a tremendous influence on chemical reactions. However, precise quantum chemistry calculations are most often done either in vacuum neglecting the role of the solvent or using continuum solvent model ignoring its…
We report results from a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation on the conformations of a long flexible polyelectrolyte complexed to a charged sphere, \textit{both negatively charged}, in the presence of neutralizing counterions in the strong…
In charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions, highly charged macroions, dressed by strongly correlated counterions, carry an effective charge that can be substantially reduced (renormalized) from the bare charge. Interactions between dressed…
Deformable colloids and macromolecules adsorb at interfaces, as they decrease the interfacial energy between the two media. The deformability, or softness, of these particles plays a pivotal role in the properties of the interface. In this…
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…
A model for ionic solutions with an attractive short-range pair interaction between the ions is presented. The short-range interaction is accounted for by adding a quadratic non-local term to the Poisson-Boltzmann free energy. The model is…
We investigate the complexation of a highly charged sphere with a long flexible polyelectrolyte, \textit{both negatively charged} in salt free environment. Electroneutrality is insured by the presence of divalent counterions. Using…
Ionic microgel particles are intriguing systems in which the properties of thermo-responsive polymeric colloids are enriched by the presence of charged groups. In order to rationalize their properties and predict the behaviour of microgel…
We describe arrangements of ions capable of producing short-range attractive interactions between pairs of charged colloidal spheres in the low temperature strongly correlated limit. For particles of radius $R$ with bare charge $Z$ and…
Colloidal suspensions and polyelectrolyte solutions containing multivalent counterions can exhibit some very counter-intuitive behavior usually associated with the low temperature physics. There are two particularly striking phenomena…
We examine the effective counterion-mediated electrostatic interaction between two like-charged dielectric cylinders immersed in a continuous dielectric medium containing neutralizing mobile counterions. We focus on the effects of image…
The surface tension of interacting polymers in a good solvent is calculated theoretically and by computer simulations for a planar wall geometry and for the insertion of a single colloidal hard-sphere. This is achieved for the planar wall…
The effective potential between charged colloids trapped at water interfaces is analyzed. It consists of a repulsive electrostatic and an attractive capillary part which asymptotically both show dipole--like behavior. For sufficiently large…
Physical properties of colloidal materials can be modified by addition of nanoparticles. Within a model of like-charged mixtures of particles governed by effective electrostatic interactions, we explore the influence of charged…
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…
We determine the structure of charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions at low ionic strength over an extended range of particle volume fractions using a combination of light and small angle neutron scattering experiments. The variation of…