H. Schiessel, Counterion condensation on flexible polyelectrolytes: Dependence on ionic strength and chain concentration, MACROMOLEC, 32(17), 1999, pp. 5673-5680
We give a simple scaling picture for dilute and semidilute solutions of fle
xible polyelectrolytes including counterion condensation. It is shown that
below a critical temperature a fraction of the counterions condenses on the
chain. This leads to a renormalization of the total charge of the macroion
s as well as to a condensation-induced intrachain attraction resulting in a
shrinkage of the chain. The paper extends the scaling picture of Schiessel
and Pincus [Macromolecules 1998, 31, 7953] for dilute solutions without ex
tra salt to higher ionic strengths and higher chain concentrations. The dia
gram of states for the different cases is presented.