Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.

Non-UMass Amherst users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.

Dissertations that have an embargo placed on them will not be available to anyone until the embargo expires.

Author ORCID Identifier

N/A

AccessType

Open Access Dissertation

Document Type

dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Program

Physics

Year Degree Awarded

2016

Month Degree Awarded

February

First Advisor

Murugappan Muthukumar

Subject Categories

Physics

Abstract

We study the electric-field-driven translocation of polymers with ring architecture, i.e. circular polymers, in comparison with their linear counterpart. We construct the free energy landscape for ring and linear polymer translocations respectively, in the context of Fokker-Planck formalism. Non-monotonicity of translocation time as function of polymer length is observed from ring polymer, which is enhanced by pore- polymer attraction. The external electric driving force and pore-polymer interaction are the tuning parameter of relative translocation time of ring and linear polymers. We study the polyelectrolyte brush in monovalent salt using self-consistent-field- theory. We confirmed the step-function polymer profile in strong-stretched state. We examine the ion distribution and assure the trapping counterions by the brush. We also study the polyelectrolyte brush in divalent salt using explicit Donnan equi- librium and free energy minimization. We calculation the brush height and degree of ionization self-consistently as function divalent salt concentration. We explained the non-monotonic behavior of brush height versus salt concentration (observed in experiment) by charge reversal.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/7811579.0

Download

Included in

Physics Commons

Share

COinS