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Generation of mechanical force by grafted polyelectrolytes in an electric field

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posted on 2017-03-21, 10:25 authored by N. V. Brilliantov, Yu. A. Budkov, C. Seidel
We study theoretically and by means of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations the generation of mechanical force by grafted polyelectrolytes in an external electric field, which favors its adsorption on the grafting plane. The force arises in deformable bodies linked to the free end of the chain. Varying the field, one controls the length of the nonadsorbed part of the chain and hence the deformation of the target body, i.e., the arising force too. We consider target bodies with a linear force-deformation relation and with a Hertzian one. While the first relation models a coiled Gaussian chain, the second one describes the force response of a squeezed colloidal particle. The theoretical dependences of generated force and compression of the target body on an applied field agree very well with the results of MD simulations. The analyzed phenomenon may play an important role in future nanomachinery, e.g., it may be used to design nanovices to fix nanosized objects.

History

Citation

Physical Review E, 2016, 93, 032505

Author affiliation

/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/Department of Mathematics

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Published in

Physical Review E

Publisher

American Physical Society

issn

2470-0045

eissn

2470-0053

Copyright date

2016

Available date

2017-03-21

Publisher version

http://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.93.032505

Language

en

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