Abstract
By molecular dynamics simulations we investigate the transport of charged polymers in confinement, under externally applied electric fields, in straight cylinders of uniform diameter and in the presence of monovalent or multivalent counterions. The applied electric field has two components; a longitudinal component along the axis of the cylinder and a transversal component perpendicular to the cylinder axis. The direction of electrophoretic velocity depends on the polyelectrolyte length, valency of the counterions present in solution and transversal electric field value. A statistical model is put forward in order to explain these observations.
Highlights
We investigate by computer experiments new ways of separating charged polymers in electric fields
We study charged polymers separation in straight cylinders of uniform diameter under the action of a constant electric field that has two components: one component is parallel to the cylinder axis and the second component is orthogonal to the cylinder axis
We carried out molecular dynamics simulations of electrophoresis of charged chains in confinement, in cylinder geometries, in the presence of multivalent counterions and applied electric fields
Summary
We investigate by computer experiments new ways of separating charged polymers in electric fields. We aim to distinguish between chains of different length by influencing their direction of movement, rather than their electrophoretic velocities. The latter topic has been investigated by us in previous papers [1,2]. One can neglect other complex phenomena such as induced attraction between charged molecules mediated by multivalent ions [3]. The motivation of our work comes from the observation that in an electric field, in free solution and without a sieving media charged polymers move with the same velocity, irrespective of their size
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