A tunable dendritic molecular actuator.

Abstract

I present an electroresponsive molecular actuator based upon a diblock copolymer of a positively charged dendrimer and a negatively charged linear chain. Brownian dynamics simulations demonstrate the hybrid polyampholyte's ability to apply a force or assume an equilibrium molecular strain tunable with an applied electric field. The free energy as a function of molecular strain at differing electric field strengths, as obtained via the Jarzynski identity, suggests a phase transition in the hybrid.