Adsorption of Polyelectrolyte onto a Colloid of Opposite Charge

Abstract

We study theoretically an idealized model for the adsorption of a weakly charged polyelectrolyte chain onto an oppositely charged colloidal particle. Within the framework of the self-consistent field theory, and using an analogy with the quantum theory of the atom, we show that the connectivity between the charges of the polymer leads to an “overcharge” of the colloidal particle, which can adsorb a chain of total charge up to $15/6$ times its own charge.