Chinese Journal of Polymer Science

, Volume 35, Issue 1, pp 98–107 | Cite as

Response of bi-disperse polyelectrolyte brushes to external electric fields — A numerical self-consistent field theory study

  • Cong Kang
  • Shuang-liang Zhao
  • Chao-hui Tong (童朝晖)
Papers
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Abstract

The self-consistent field theory has been employed to numerically study the response of bi-disperse flexible polyelectrolyte (PE) brushes grafted on an electrode to electric fields generated by opposite surface charges on the PE-grafted electrode and a second parallel electrode. The numerical study reveals that, under a positive external electric field, the shorter and negatively charged PE chains are more responsive than the longer PE chains in terms of the relative changes in their respective brush heights. Whereas under a negative external electric field, the opposite was observed. The total electric force on the grafted PE chains was calculated and it was found that, under a positive external electric field, the magnitude of the total electric force acting on one shorter PE chain is larger than that on one longer PE chain, or vice versa. The underlying mechanism was unraveled through analyzing the total electric field across the two oppositely charged electrodes.

Keywords

Polyelectrolyte brushes Self-consistent field theory Electrical stimulus Polydispersity 
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Copyright information

© Chinese Chemical Society, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Cong Kang
    • 1
  • Shuang-liang Zhao
    • 2
  • Chao-hui Tong (童朝晖)
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of PhysicsNingbo UniversityNingboChina
  2. 2.College of Chemical EngineeringEast China University of Science and TechnologyShanghaiChina

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