Adsorption of Polyelectrolyte onto a Colloid of Opposite Charge

We study theoretically an idealized model for the adsorption of a weakly charged polyelectrolyte chain onto an oppositely charged colloidal particle. Within the framework of the self-consistent field theory, and using an analogy with the quantum theory of the atom, we show that the connectivity between the charges of the polymer leads to an ``overcharge'' of the colloidal particle, which can adsorb a chain of total charge up to 15/6 times its own charge.