Packing of charged chains on toroidal geometries?

ORAL

Abstract

We study sequential Langmuir adsorption of a flexible charged polyelectrolyte chain on tori. In the regime of monomer-monomer electrostatic interaction dominating over thermal fluctuations, it becomes a generalized Thomson problem. Various patterns of adsorbed chain are found including double spirals, disclination-like structures, Janus tori and uniform wrappings, arising from the long-range electrostatic interaction and the toroidal geometry. Their broken mirror symmetry and energetics are analyzed. In particular, we find a power law for the electrostatic energy; the dependence of the power on the geometry of tori implies a geometric origin. Furthermore, in the regime of large thermal fluctuation, we systematically study random walks on tori that generate chain configurations; the features associated with the toroidal geometry are discussed.

*This work was funded by grants from the Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR\&E) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) under Award No. FA9550-10-1-0167.

Authors

  • Zhenwei Yao

    • Northwestern University
  • Monica Olvera de la Cruz

    • Northwestern University
    • Department of Materials Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University
    • Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University