A bead-spring chain as a one-dimensional polyelectrolyte gel.

Abstract

The physical principles underlying expansion of a single-chain polyelectrolyte coil caused by Coulomb repulsions among its ionized groups, and the expansion of a cross-linked polyelectrolyte gel, are probably the same. In this paper, we analyze a "one-dimensional" version of a gel, namely, a linear chain of charged beads connected by Hooke's law springs. In the Debye-Hückel range of relatively weak Coulomb strength, where counterion condensation does not occur, the springs are realistically stretched on a nanolength scale by the repulsive interactions among the beads, if we use a spring constant normalized by the inverse square of the solvent Bjerrum length. The persistence length and radius of gyration counter-intuitively decrease when Coulomb strength is increased, if analyzed in the framework of an OSF-type theory; however, a buckling theory generates the increase that is consistent with bead-spring simulations.