Ion Correlation-Driven Hysteretic Adhesion and Repulsion between Opposing Polyelectrolyte Brushes

Polyelectrolyte (PE) brushes are widely used in biomaterials and nanotechnology to regulate the surface properties and interactions. Here, we apply the electrostatic correlation augmented self-consistent field theory to investigate the interactions between opposing PE brushes in a mixture of 1:1 and 3:1 salt solutions. Our theory predicts a hysteretic feature of the normal stress induced by strong ion correlations. In the presence of trivalent ions, the force profile is discontinuous: repulsive in the compression branch and adhesive in the separation branch. The molecular origin of the hysteretic force is the coexistence of two collapsed modes: two separated condensed layers on each surface in the compression and a single bundled condensed layer in the separation. With the systematic inclusion of ion correlations, our theory captures well the hysteretic force, adhesive separation, "jump-in" and "jump-out" features, and the "specific ion effect", all in good agreement with the reported experimental results.