Effect of confinement on the interaction between two like-charged rods.
Monte Carlo simulations were employed to study two charged rods confined between two unlike charged plates, all immersed in a model electrolyte. Recently, it was shown that two rods immersed in a multivalent counterion solution may show attraction [Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2477 (1997)10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.2477]. Here we show for a monovalent electrolyte that rod-rod attraction and repulsion can switch sign depending on confinement and ionic size. We also propose a simple self-assembling mechanism which may be helpful to understand the DNA-lipid bilayers complexation.