title: Polyelectrolyte condensation induced by linear cations.
abstract: We examine the role of the condensing agent in the formation of polyelectrolyte bundles, via grand-canonical Monte Carlo simulations. Following recent experiments we use linear, rigid divalent cations of various lengths to induce condensation. Our results clarify and explain the experimental results for short cations. For longer cations we observe novel condensation behavior owing to the alignment of the cations. We also study the role of the polyelectrolyte surface-charge density, and find a nonmonotonic variation in bundle stability. This nonmonotonicity captures two trends that have been observed in separate experiments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Camilo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guáqueta
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Luijten
mesh_terms: D002412:Cations / Q000737:chemistry*; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003959:Diamines / Q000737:chemistry*; D004573:Electrolytes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D009010:Monte Carlo Method
chemical_list: D002412:Cations; D003959:Diamines; D004573:Electrolytes