Abstract
Polymers that feature both positive and negative charges along chains, known as polyampholytes, represent a class of materials that hold promise for a new generation of energy storage devices, the design of which will require knowledge of the underlying structure and dynamics. Here, we develop a theory based on the Rouse model for the dynamic structure factor of a single polyampholyte chain in the weak coupling regime (negligible intramolecular electrostatics) or subjected to weak external electric fields (governed by linear response). Neglecting effects of small ions, we find deviations in scaling from the classic Rouse theory and make predictions for scattering experiments performed on polyampholytes. We find that, under weak coupling with arbitrarily strong fields, the dynamics are highly dependent on the charge distribution and consequently look at two representative examples—random charge densities and periodic charge densities—with different scaling properties. Under weak fields, the dynamics are largely independent of charge distribution. Finally, we investigate the influence of hydrodynamic effects and the implications of including inertial effects in the model.
