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Adsorption of polyelectrolytes on silica and gold surfaces

The results of a study that helps understand the mechanisms of adsorption of polyelectrolytes on particles, using numerical simulation methods, specifically the one known as dissipative particle dynamics are reported here. The adsorption of cationic polyelectrolytes of two different polymerization degrees interacting with two types of surfaces, one made of gold and the other of silica is predicted and compared. We find that a more negatively charged wall does not necessarily adsorb more cationic polyelectrolytes because the electrostatic repulsion between the wall and the polyelectrolytes is stronger. Additionally, intra chain repulsion plays an important role, because the largest polyelectrolyte chains have larger excluded volume than the shorter ones. In regard to the adsorption dependence on the polyelectrolyte polymerization degree we find that the excluded volume drives the adsorption throughout the intrachain electrostatic repulsion, because the SiO2 surface is strongly negative. These results are expected to be useful for several nanotechnological applications of current interest, such as in gene therapy and in the improvement of drug delivering mechanisms.