Stretching of Polyelectrolyte Chains by Oppositely Charged Aggregates

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Abstract
Using Monte Carlo (MC) simulation, mean-field and scaling arguments we investigate forces between charged spherical aggregates conferred by an oppositely charged polymeric chain. At interaggregate separations comparable to the length of the chain the force is attractive due to a special type of long-range bridging attraction mediated by the polyelectrolyte chain, adsorbed to both aggregates. Beyond a certain separation (capture separation) there is a symmetry-breaking transition in the monomer density distribution, resulting in a preferential adsorption of the chain to one of the aggregates.