This chapter deals with charged polymers (polyelectrolytes) in solution and at surfaces. The behavior of polyelectrolytes is markedly different from that of neutral polymers. In bulk solutions, i.e. disregarding the surface effect, there are two unique features to charged polymers: first, due to the presence of long-ranged electrostatic repulsion between charged monomers, the polymer conformati...

Condensation of DNA helices into hexagonally packed bundles and toroids represents an intriguing example functional organization biological macromolecules at the nanoscale. The condensation models are based on unique polyelectrolyte features DNA, however here we could reproduce a DNA-like with supramolecular small chiral molecules, thereby demonstrating that it is more general phenomenon. We sh...

Monte Carlo simulations are used to study the non-uniform equilibrium charge distribution along a single annealed polyelectrolyte chain under theta solvent conditions and with added salt. Within a range of the order of the Debye length charge accumulates at chain ends while a slight charge depletion appears in the central part of the chain. The simulation results are compared with theoretical p...

We study the adsorption of semiflexible polymers such as polyelectrolytes or DNA on planar and curved substrates, e.g., spheres or washboard substrates via short-range potentials using extensive Monte Carlo simulations, scaling arguments, and analytical transfer matrix techniques. We show that the adsorption threshold of stiff or semiflexible polymers on a planar substrate can be controlled by ...

I review theoretical and experimental results on the force-extension response of single polymers, with a focus on scaling pictures of low-force elastic regimes, and recent measurements of synthetic and biological chains that explore those regimes. The mechanical response of single polymers is an old theoretical problem whose exploration was instigated by the curious thermomechanical behavior of...

The adsorption of polyelectrolytes to charged surfaces can be applied to build up multilayers of polyelectrolytes of alternating charge by layer-by-layer assembly. Here, poly-(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) is adsorbed to colloidal latex particles in aqueous solution, and to particles precoated with four layers of polyelectrolytes. The method of H NMR transverse relaxation is applied to monito...

This viewpoint article is intended as a brief introduction to the emerging subject of field-theoretic simulations (FTS) of charged polymers. While the direct numerical simulation of field theory models has begun to impact several traditional areas of polymer science, including blends and block copolymers, polyelectrolytes have hitherto not been the subject of field-theoretic simulations. Herewe...