Mesoscopic simulation study on a weakly charged block polyelectrolyte in aqueous solution.

In this paper, we use density functional theory to study the effect of the charge of solvophilic beads and concentration on the mesoscale structures of polyelectrolyte solution. The polyelectrolyte A6B12A6 was selected as the triblock polymer, and the solvophobic B blocks have no charges, while the solvophilic A blocks are charged. The simulation results showed: at higher concentration (above 50% systems), relatively small charges on the solvophilic block do not alter the bicontinuous phase inherent to uncharged solution, but at moderate concentrations (50% system), even though the charge per solvophilic bead is very small, the order lamellar structures become disturbed. [Figure: see text].