Electrophoretic Mobility of Polyelectrolytes within a Confining Well

Abstract

We present a numerical study of polyelectrolytes electrophoresing in free solution while squeezed by an axisymmetric confinement force transverse to their net displacement. Hybrid multi-particle collision dynamics and molecular dynamics simulations with mean-field finite Debye layers show that even though the polyelectrolyte chains remain "free-draining", their electrophoretic mobility increases with confinement in nanoconfining potential wells. The primary mechanism leading to the increase in mobility above the free-solution value, despite long-range hydrodynamic screening by counterion layers, is the orientation of polymer segments within Debye layers. The observed length-dependence of the electrophoretic mobility arises due to secondary effects of counterion condensation related to confinement compactification.