Behavior of rodlike polyelectrolytes near an oppositely charged surface

Abstract

The behavior of highly charged short rodlike polyelectrolytes near oppositely charged planar surfaces is investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations. A detailed microstructural study, including monomer and fluid charge distributions and chain orientation, is provided. The influence of chain length, substrate's surface-charge density, and image forces is considered. Due to the lower chain entropy (compared to flexible chains), our simulation data show that rodlike polyelectrolytes can, in general, better adsorb than flexible ones do. Nonetheless, at low substrate-dielectric constant, it is found that repulsive image forces tend to significantly reduce this discrepancy.