Activity Induced Enhanced Diffusion of a Polymer in Poor Solvent

TL;DR

This study uses Brownian dynamics simulations to show that activity significantly enhances the diffusion of a polymer in poor solvent conditions, with results aligning with a Rouse model predicting universal scaling behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical Rouse model for active polymers and demonstrates the universal scaling of diffusion with chain length regardless of activity strength.

Findings

Effective diffusion constant increases with activity.

Long-time dynamics follow Rouse-like scaling $D_{eff} \\sim N^{-1}$.

Simulation data agree with theoretical predictions.

Abstract

By means of Brownian dynamics simulations we study the steady-state dynamic properties of a flexible active polymer in a poor solvent condition. Our results show that the effective diffusion constant of the polymer $D_{\rm eff}$ gets significantly enhanced as activity increases, much like in active particles. The simulation data are in agreement with a theoretically constructed Rouse model of active polymer, demonstrating that irrespective of the strength of activity, the long-time dynamics of the polymer chain is characterized by a universal Rouse-like scaling $D_{\rm eff} \sim N^{-1}$, where $N$ is the chain length.