Scaling theory of charged cylindrical polyelectrolyte brushes is developed. The dependence of brush thickness on the grafting density, charge fraction, and chain length is analyzed. A full phase diagram is established...Scaling theory of charged cylindrical polyelectrolyte brushes is developed. The dependence of brush thickness on the grafting density, charge fraction, and chain length is analyzed. A full phase diagram is established. Characteristics and boundaries between different regimes of cylindrical polyelectrolyte brushes are summarized. Special attentions are paid to electrostatic interaction induced stiffening and counterion condensation effects. If the Bjerrum length of the solution is larger than the Kuhn length of the polyelectrolyte chains, counterion condensation occurs in the strongly charged polyeleetrolyte brushes. On the contrary, the electrostatic interaction stretches the strongly charged grafted polyelectrolyte chains to their contour length.展开更多
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 20973176,20990234,20874111973 Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) 2011CB808502
文摘Scaling theory of charged cylindrical polyelectrolyte brushes is developed. The dependence of brush thickness on the grafting density, charge fraction, and chain length is analyzed. A full phase diagram is established. Characteristics and boundaries between different regimes of cylindrical polyelectrolyte brushes are summarized. Special attentions are paid to electrostatic interaction induced stiffening and counterion condensation effects. If the Bjerrum length of the solution is larger than the Kuhn length of the polyelectrolyte chains, counterion condensation occurs in the strongly charged polyeleetrolyte brushes. On the contrary, the electrostatic interaction stretches the strongly charged grafted polyelectrolyte chains to their contour length.