Colloquium: The physics of charge inversion in chemical and biological systems

A. Yu Grosberg, T. T. Nguyen, B. I. Shklovskii

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    Abstract

    The authors review recent advances in the physics of strongly interacting charged systems functioning in water at room temperature. In these systems, many phenomena go beyond the framework of mean-field theories, whether linear Debye-Hückel or nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann, culminating in charge inversion-a counterintuitive phenomenon in which a strongly charged particle, called a macroion, binds so many counterions that its net charge changes sign. The review discusses the universal theory of charge inversion based on the idea of a strongly correlated liquid of adsorbed counterions, similar to a Wigner crystal. This theory has a vast array of applications, particularly in biology and chemistry; for example, in the presence of positive multivalent ions (e.g., polycations), the DNA double helix acquires a net positive charge and drifts as a positive particle in an electric field. This simplifies DNA uptake by the cell as needed for gene therapy, because the cell membrane is negatively charged. Analogies of charge inversion to other fields of physics are also discussed.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)329-345
    Number of pages17
    JournalReviews of Modern Physics
    Volume74
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 2002

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Physics and Astronomy

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