New Challenges in Polyelectrolyte Science

Science of charged polymers or polyelectrolytes presents a number of challenges, despite the progress made in the field over the past 50-60 years. In this workshop we wish to bring together the communities of polymer physics and physical chemistry, linking both experimental and modelling (theory, simulation) approaches. Our interest lies in bridging the atomic/molecular scale phenomena, where the chemical nature of monomers and surrounding ions plays an important role, to larger scales where approaches based on scaling theory are commonly used. A multi-scale description of polyelectrolyte systems, concerning their phase behaviour as well as structural and dynamic properties, is far from established. It deserves particular attention, in view of the ever increasing number of polyelectrolyte systems under complex environments (at interfaces, under confinement) or of advanced properties (stimuli-responsive systems, different types of phoretic transport).