Interactions between Rigid Polyelectrolytes Mediated by Ordering and Orientation of Multivalent Nonspherical Ions in Salt Solutions



: Vahid, Hossein; Scacchi, Alberto; Sammalkorpi, Maria; Ala-Nissila, Tapio

Publisher: AMER PHYSICAL SOC

: COLLEGE PK

: 2023

: Physical Review Letters

: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

: PHYS REV LETT

:  158202

: 130

: 15

: 6

: 0031-9007

: 1079-7114

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.158202


Multivalent ions in solutions with polyelectrolytes (PEs) induce electrostatic correlations that can drastically change ion distributions around the PEs and their mutual interactions. Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, we show how in addition to valency, ion shape and concentration can be harnessed as tools to control rigid like-charged PE-PE interactions. We demonstrate a correlation between the orientational ordering of aspherical ions and how they mediate the effective PE-PE attraction induced by multivalency. The interaction type, strength, and range can thus be externally controlled in ionic solutions. Our results can be used as generic guidelines to tune the self-assembly of like-charged polyelectrolytes by variation of the characteristics of the ions.



Last updated on 2025-27-01 at 19:36