Counterion release and electrostatic adsorption

The effective charge of a rigid polyelectrolyte (PE) approaching an opposit ely charged surface is studied. The eases of a weak (annealed) and strongly charged PE with condensed counterions (such as DNA) are discussed. In the most interesting case of the adsorption onto a substrate of low dielectric constant (such as a lipid membrane or a mica sheet) the condensed counterio ns are and always released as the PE approaches the substrate, because of t he major importance of the image-charge effect. For the adsorption onto a s urface with freely moving charges, the image-charge effect becomes less imp ortant and full release is often expected.