Fantastic Saloplastic

Oppositely-charged polymers spontaneously assemble into amorphous complexes or coacervates, driven mainly by the release of counterions. Macromolecules within these polyelectrolyte complex/coacervates, PECs, are well blended due to pairing of oppositely-charged repeat units Pol⁺ and Pol^-. These charge pairs can be quickly and reversibly broken by the addition of salt to the solution in which PECs are immersed, reducing their bulk modulus. This reversible doping by salt, termed saloplasticity, controls all of the physical and mechanical properties of PECs. This talk will illustrate the concept and origin of saloplasticity and show how a “stick association” theory of polymers can be extended to PECs to predict their dynamics as a function of salt doping.