2009/05/27 by Ajay S. Panwar, Mark A. Kelly, Panwar, Ajay S. +5 · 1 citation
Chemistry · Materials Science · #Electrostatics and Colloid Interactions #FOS: Physical sciences #Material Dynamics and Properties #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Polymer crystallization and properties #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0905.4524
openalex publication_date 2009/05/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We explore the mechanical response of a single polyelectrolyte chain under tension in good and poor solvents using a combination of simulation and theory. In poor solvents, where the equilibrium state of the chain is a collapsed globule, we find that the chain undergoes a globule-coil transition, as the magnitude of the force is increased beyond a critical value. This transition, where the polymer size changes discontinuously from a small to a large value, is accompanied by release of bound counterions from the chain. We explain these results by adhering to a statistical mechanical theory of counter-ion condensation on flexible polyelectrolytes.