Does Electrical Conductivity of Linear Polyelectrolytes in Aqueous Solutions Follow the Dynamic Scaling Laws? A Critical Review and a Summary of the Key Relations

In this review, we focus on the electrical conductivity of aqueous polyelectrolyte solutions in the light of the dynamic scaling laws, recently proposed by Dobrynin and Rubinstein, to take into account the polymer conformations in different concentration regimes, both in good and poor solvent conditions. This approach allows us to separate contributions due to polymer conformation from those due to the ionic character of the chain, and offers the possibility to extend the validity of the Manning conductivity model to dilute and semidilute regimes. The electrical conductivity in the light of the scaling approach compares reasonably well with the observed values for different polyelectrolytes in aqueous solutions, over an extended concentration range, from the dilute to the semidilute regime.