2000/11/30 by Toan T. Nguyen, Boris I. Shklovskii
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Charge (physics) #Charge density #Electret #Electrostatics #Electrostatics and Colloid Interactions #Fixed charge #Hard spheres #Isoelectric point #Material Dynamics and Properties #Polyelectrolyte #Polymer Surface Interaction Studies #SPHERES #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.1355289
published as J. Chem. Phys., 114 (2001) 5905-5916. · Various additions and corrections to the text, Figures and references. Accepted for publication in J. Chem. Phys. 2001
arxiv created 2001/02/22 · openalex publication_date 2001/04/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Complexation of a long flexible polyelectrolyte (PE) molecule with oppositely charged spherical particles such as colloids, micelles, or globular proteins in a salty water solution is studied. PE binds spheres winding around them, while spheres repel each other and form almost periodic necklace. If the total charge of PE in the solution is larger than total charge of spheres, repulsive correlations of PE turns on a sphere lead to inversion of the net charge of each sphere. In the opposite case when the total charge of spheres is larger, we predict another correlation effect; spheres bind to the PE in such a great number that they invert the charge of the PE. The inverted charge by absolute value can be larger than the bare charge of PE even when screening by monovalent salt is weak. At larger concentrations of monovalent salt, the inverted charge can reach giant proportions. Near the isoelectric point where total charges of spheres and PE are equal, necklaces condense into macroscopic bundles. Our theory is in qualitative agreement with recent experiments on micelles–PE systems.