Effective interactions between charged dendrimers

Author(s)
Sebastian Huißmann, Christos Likos, Ronald Blaak
Abstract

We perform monomer-resolved computer simulations of fourth-generation charged dendrimers at various conditions of charging (full, terminal and neutral) and for different values of the spacer length P connecting the branching nodes, from P = 1 to P = 6. We examine the sizes, overlaps and effective forces between the centers of mass of the dendrimers with and without added monovalent and divalent salt. For neutral dendrimers, we find that all effective interactions for the various spacer lengths can be scaled on a universal curve. Adding charge to the dendrimers leads to increased repulsions between them, which can be tuned by the spacer length P and become softer as the latter increases. Addition of monovalent salt of various concentrations leads to no visible effects on the effective interaction, in contrast to divalent salts, which cause a dramatic reduction of the effective repulsion as the salinity increases.

Organisation(s)
Computational and Soft Matter Physics
External organisation(s)
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
Journal
Soft Matter
Volume
7
Pages
8419-8427
No. of pages
9
ISSN
1744-683X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/c1sm05516j
Publication date
2011
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
103023 Polymer physics, 1030 Physics, Astronomy, 103015 Condensed matter, 103029 Statistical physics
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/a1bfb90a-2533-44d3-a6c4-f27b81610b7b