Abstract
The utilization of chemical sequence control in polymeric materials is key to enabling material design on par with biomacromolecular systems. One important avenue for scalable sequence-controlled polymers leverages the random copolymerization of distinct monomers, with the statistical distribution of the monomeric sequence arising from reaction kinetics following a first-order Markov process. Here we utilize the framework of the random phase approximation (RPA) to develop a theory for the phase behavior of symmetric polyelectrolyte coacervates whose chemical sequences are dictated by simple statistical distributions. We find that a high charge "blockiness" within the random sequences favors the formation of denser and more salt-resistant coacervates while simultaneously increasing the width of the two-phase region. We trace these physical effects to the increased cooperativity of Coulomb interactions that results from increased charge blockiness in oppositely charged polyelectrolytes.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1296-1302 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | ACS Macro Letters |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 15 2019 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Organic Chemistry
- Polymers and Plastics
- Inorganic Chemistry
- Materials Chemistry