title: Importance of varying permittivity on the conductivity of polyelectrolyte solutions.
abstract: Dissolved ions can alter the local permittivity of water; nevertheless most theories and simulations ignore this fact. We present a novel algorithm for treating spatial and temporal variations in the permittivity and use it to measure the equivalent conductivity of a salt-free polyelectrolyte solution. Our new approach quantitatively reproduces experimental results unlike simulations with a constant permittivity that even qualitatively fail to describe the data. We can relate this success to a change in the ion distribution close to the polymer due to the buildup of a permittivity gradient.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Computerphysik, Universität Stuttgart, Allmandring 3, Stuttgart 70569, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fahrenberger
authors.affiliation: Institut für Computerphysik, Universität Stuttgart, Allmandring 3, Stuttgart 70569, Germany.
authors.forename: Owen A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Hickey
authors.affiliation: Institut für Computerphysik, Universität Stuttgart, Allmandring 3, Stuttgart 70569, Germany.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smiatek
authors.affiliation: Institut für Computerphysik, Universität Stuttgart, Allmandring 3, Stuttgart 70569, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Holm