Partitioning of a polymer chain between a confining cavity and a gel

Abstract

A lattice field theory approach to the statistical mechanics of charged polymers in electrolyte solutions [S. Tsonchev, R. D. Coalson, and A. Duncan, Phys. Rev. E 60, 4257, (1999)] is applied to the study of a polymer chain contained in a spherical cavity but able to diffuse into a surrounding gel. The distribution of the polymer chain between the cavity and the gel is described by its partition coefficient, which is computed as a function of the number of monomers in the chain, the monomer charge, and the ion concentrations in the solution.