Phase diagram of charged dumbbells: a random phase approximation approach

Application of Monte Carlo simulation in addressing key issues of complex coacervation formed by polyelectrolytes and oppositely charged colloids

This paper reviews the recent advance of Monte Carlo (MC) simulation in addressing key issues of complex coacervation between polyelectrolytes and oppositely charged colloids. Readers were first supplied with a brief overview of current knowledge and experimental strategies in the study of complex coacervation. In the next section, the general MC simulation procedures as well as representative strategies applied in complex coacervation were summarized. The unique contributions of MC simulation in either capturing delicate features, easing the experimental trials or proving the concept were then elucidated through the following aspects: i) identify phase boundary and decouple interaction contributions; ii) clarify composition distribution and internal structure; iii) predict the influences of physicochemical conditions on complex coacervation; iv) delineate the mechanisms for "binding on the wrong side of the isoelectric point". Finally, current challenges as well as prospects of MC simulation in complex coacervation are also discussed. The ultimate goal of this review is to provide readers with basic guideline for synergistic design of experiments in combination with MC simulation, and deliver convincing interpretation and reliable prediction for the structure and behavior in polyelectrolyte-macroion complex coacervation.

Microscopic approach to the kinetics of pattern formation of charged molecules on surfaces

A microscopic formalism based on computing many-particle densities is applied to the analysis of the diffusion-controlled kinetics of pattern formation in oppositely charged molecules on surfaces or adsorbed at interfaces with competing long-range Coulomb and short-range Lennard-Jones interactions. Particular attention is paid to the proper molecular treatment of energetic interactions driving pattern formation in inhomogeneous systems. The reverse Monte Carlo method is used to visualize the spatial molecular distribution based on the calculated radial distribution functions (joint correlation functions). We show the formation of charge domains for certain combinations of temperature and dynamical interaction parameters. The charge segregation evolves into quasicrystalline clusters of charges, due to the competing long- and short-range interactions. The clusters initially co-exist with a gas phase of charges that eventually add to the clusters, generating "fingers" or line of charges of the same sign, very different than the nanopatterns expected by molecular dynamics in systems with competing interactions in two dimensions, such as strain or dipolar versus van der Waals interactions.

Vapor-liquid coexistence in fluids of charged hard dumbbells

Vapor-liquid coexistence in fluids of charged hard dumbbells, each made up of two oppositely charged hard spheres with diameters sigma and separation d, has been studied using grand-canonical Monte Carlo simulations. In the limit d/sigma-->0, and with the temperature scaled accordingly, the system corresponds to dipolar hard spheres. For separations in the range 0.3<d/sigma<or=1 the coexisting vapor phase contains compact clusters. For separations in the range 0.1<or=d/sigma<0.3 the coexistence is between a chainlike vapor and a networklike liquid. Finite-size effects preclude the simulation of the coexistence in systems with d/sigma<0.1, but extrapolations of the results to d/sigma-->0 yield estimates of the apparent critical parameters for dipolar hard spheres.