Grant Bruce Webber

A First-Principles Alternative to Empirical Solvent Parameters The use of solvents is ubiquitous in chemistry. Empirical parameters, such as the Kamlet-Taft parameters and Gutmann donor/acceptor numbers, have long been used to predict and quantify the effects solvents have on chemical phenomena. Collectively however, such parameters are unsatisfactory, since each describes ultimately the same non-covalent solute-solvent and solute-solute interactions in completely disparate ways.

Underscreening in concentrated electrolytes: Re-entrant swelling in polyelectrolyte brushes Hypersaline environments are ubiquitous in nature and are found in myriad technological processes. Recent empirical studies have revealed a significant discrepancy between the predicted and observed screening lengths at high salt concentrations, a phenomenon referred to as underscreening. Herein we investigate underscreening using a cationic polyelectrolyte brush as an exemplar.