A Monte Carlo Study of mixtures of charged and neutral polymer in solution.

I. M. IRURZUN; C. L. MATTEO

MACROMOLECULAR THEORY AND SIMULATIONS

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH

Lugar: Weinheim; Año: 2001 vol. 10 p. 802 - 807

1022-1344

Mixtures of neutral and charged polymers are studied by Monte Carlo simulation techniques. The charges on the chains are assumed to interact with a Debye-Hückel potential. The monomer density and the screening are kept constant, while the proportion between charged and neutral polymer is changed. The single-chain structure factor of each species is analyzed, and drastic changes are observed with the variation of the fraction of charged chains. Changes entail modifications of the radius of gyration, which suggest the existence of attractive interactions. Results agree with experimental evidence of incompatibility in mixtures at low polyelectrolyte concentrations.