Small Ion Effects on Self-Coacervation Phenomena in Block Polyampholytes

ORAL

Abstract

Polyelectrolyte complexation is a common phenomenon in natural polymers and has been applied to synthetic materials systems for coatings, adhesives, and encapsulants. Single-component polyelectrolyte complexes are formed when block polyampholytes exhibit self-coacervation, phase separating into a dense liquid coacervate phase rich in the polaympholyte coexisting with a dilute supernatant phase. Using fully fluctuating field theoretic simulations, we explore the phase behavior of block polyampholytes in solution to understand the structure and thermodynamics of the self-coacervate. Results are shown concerning the effects of counterions, added salt, and charge asymmetries. In particular, non-neutral chains are considered, probing the crossover at which electrostatic repulsions dominate the attractions, resulting in suppressed phase separation. Simple analytical and random phase approximation (RPA) expressions are used to discuss scaling relationships.

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Presenters

  • Scott Danielsen

    Chemical Engineering, UC Santa Barbara, Univ of California - Santa Barbara

Authors

  • Scott Danielsen

    Chemical Engineering, UC Santa Barbara, Univ of California - Santa Barbara

  • Kris Delaney

    Univ of California - Santa Barbara, UC Santa Barbara, Materials Research Laboratory, Univ of California - Santa Barbara, Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, University of California - Santa Barbara, Materials Research Laboratory and Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Glenn Fredrickson

    Univ of California - Santa Barbara, UC Santa Barbara, Materials Research Laboratory, UC Santa Barbara, Chemical Engineering, Univ of California - Santa Barbara, Chemical Engineering, Materials, and Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, University of California - Santa Barbara, Materials Research Laboratory and Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara