title: Adsorption of polyelectrolytes at an oppositely charged surface
abstract: We develop a scaling theory of polyelectrolyte adsorption at an oppositely charged surface. At low surface charge densities, the thickness of the adsorbed layer is determined by the balance between electrostatic attraction to the charged surface and chain entropy. At high surface charge densities, it is determined by the balance between electrostatic attraction and short-range monomer-monomer repulsion. These different stabilizing mechanisms result in the nonmonotonic dependence of the layer thickness on the surface charge density.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3290, USA.
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Dobrynin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deshkovski
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rubinstein