Size, flexibility, and scattering functions of semiflexible polyelectrolytes with excluded volume effects: Monte Carlo simulations and neutron scattering experiments

Luigi Cannavacciuolo, Cornelia Sommer, Jan Skov Pedersen, and Peter Schurtenberger
Phys. Rev. E 62, 5409 – Published 1 October 2000
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Abstract

We present a systematic Monte Carlo study of the scattering function S(q) of semiflexible polyelectrolytes at infinite dilution, in solutions with different concentrations of added salt. In the spirit of a theoretical description of polyelectrolytes in terms of the equivalent parameters, namely, persistence length and excluded volume interactions, we used a modified wormlike chain model, in which the monomers are represented by charged hard spheres placed at distance a. The electrostatic interactions are approximated by a Debye-Hückel potential. We show that the scattering function is quantitatively described by that of uncharged wormlike chains with excluded volume effects provided that an electrostatic contribution is added to the persistence length. In addition we have studied the expansion of the radius of gyration and of the end-to-end distance. The results are in agreement with the picture outlined in the Odijk-Skolnick-Fixman theory, in which the behavior of charged polymers is described only in terms of increasing local rigidity and excluded volume effects. Moreover, the Monte Carlo data are found to be in very good agreement with experimental scattering measurements with equilibrium polyelectrolytes, i.e., giant wormlike micelles formed in mixtures of nonionic and ionic surfactants in dilute aqueous solution, with added salt.

  • Received 3 March 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.62.5409

©2000 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Luigi Cannavacciuolo1, Cornelia Sommer2, Jan Skov Pedersen3,*,†, and Peter Schurtenberger2,†

  • 1Institut für Polymere, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Fribourg, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
  • 3Condensed Matter Physics and Chemistry Department, Risø National Laboratory, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark

  • *Present address: Dept. of Chemistry, Aarhus University, Langelandsgade 140, DK-800 Aarhus C, Denmark.
  • Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

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Vol. 62, Iss. 4 — October 2000

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