Linking Electrostatic-Induced Chain Stiffening to Heat Flow in Amorphous Polymers

for uncharged PAA. Using molecular-dynamics simulations of a bead-spring polymer model, we study the effect of ionization on κ in amorphous polymers. In agreement with experiment, we observe a more than 2.5-fold enhancement in κ, driven by electrostatically induced, local chain stiffening that increases the bonded contribution to κ. These results identify a generic mechanism for tuning κ across a broad class of charged polymers.