Theory of the Observed Ultra-Low Friction between Sliding Polyelectrolyte Brushes

Abstract

It is shown using a method based on a modified version of the mean field theory of Miklavic Marcelja that it should be possible for osmotic pressure due to the counterions associated with the two polyelectrolyte polymer brush coated surfaces to support a reasonable load (i.e., about $10^6 Pa$) with the brushes held sufficiently far apart to prevent entanglement of polymers belonging to the two brushes, thus avoiding what is believed to be the dominant mechanisms for static and dry friction.Comment: latex with 2 figures as eps files. Revised version has an improved solution to the Poisson-Boltzmann equatio