IPEC Solver: Numerical simulation tool to study inter-polyelectrolyte complexation Original Research Article

IPEC Solver is a Windows program designed to analyze the stability of core–shell inter-polyelectrolyte complexes formed by complexation of oppositely charged block copolymers. The two-dimensional size distribution of the complexes composed by different numbers of positively or negatively charged polyelectrolytes is calculated based on the scaling model of block copolymer aggregation and Poisson–Boltzmann theory for electrostatic interactions [V.A. Baulin, E. Trizac, Self-assembly of spherical inter-polyelectrolyte complexes from oppositely charged polymers, Soft Matter 8 (25) (2012) 6755–6766]. Salt effects, charge distribution and distributions of labile cations and anions around the complexes are calculated numerically as a function of chain composition and solvent properties.