Living polymers in a size-asymmetric electrolyte.
A living polymers transition is found in molecular dynamics simulations of a charge-symmetric size-asymmetric electrolyte with no anisotropic interactions. The fluid has strong polymeric character at low temperatures, where it consists of large, alternating-charge linear chains and rings in chemical equilibrium. A mean-field theory of chain association is consistent with the existence of such a transition. In the polymeric phase, the system is very weakly conducting or electrically insulating.
Bastea
Sorin
S
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94550, USA. bastea2@llnl.gov