Structure and Thermodynamics of Polyelectrolyte Complexes

Abstract

Polyelectrolytes (PEs) find applications in many fields of modern life starting from food additives to flocculation and solubility enhancers, down to viscosity adjusting agents in cosmetics and subterranean gelling or drug delivery agents. Most of these properties are related to the PE charge density, structure, counterions, temperature or counter PE. This book chapter gives an overview of the current state of understanding of the thermodynamical properties of PEs in solution. The theoretical predictions and results are compared with current state of the art computer simulations (with a focus on molecular dynamics) as well as experiments on PE structure, complex formation and viscosity properties.