To what extent of ion neutralization can multivalent ion distributions around RNA-like macroions be described by Poisson

To what extent of ion neutralization can multivalent ion distributions around RNA-like macroions be described by Poisson–Boltzmann theory?

Xiong Gui, Xi Kun, Zhang Xi^†, Tan Zhi-Jie^‡

(color online) (a)–(c) Net ion charge distribution Q(r) obtained from PB theory (dashed lines) and MC simulations (solid lines) around an RNA-like spherical macroion in divalent salt solutions. (d)–(f) Deviations between the distributions Q(r) of PB theory and MC simulations. The radius and surface charge density of the RNA-like spherical macroion are taken as the typical values of 20 Å and 0.0143e/Å², respectively. Distributions Q(r) and deviations for RNA-like spherical macroions with different radii can be found in Figs. S2 and S3 in the supplementary material.