Water mediated electrostatic interactions are omnipresent in various nanoscale phenomena. These interactions regulate several biological and industrial processes, such as the functioning of energy storage devices, the ionic selectivity and polymer conductivity of membrane nanopores in nanofluidic and biosequencing approaches, and the interaction of protein-DNA complexes in gene therapeutic applications. Despite their high relevance, for several decades, electrostatic interactions governing nanoscale systems have been modeled within mean-field (MF) level dielectric continuum formulations, such as the Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) approach that neglects charge correlations, the charge structure of water solvent, and ion specific effects originating from the intramolecular solute structure.
With the aim to overcome these limitations, I incorporate into the PB formalism electrostatic correlations, solvent charge structure resulting in non-local electrostatics, and ion specificity. Within the framework of these solvent explicit and beyond-MF electrostatic theories, I investigate the equilibrium thermodynamics of charged liquids and macromolecular interactions. By combining these approaches with hydrodynamic transport and diffusion equations, I characterize as well the electrohydrodynamics of ion transport and polymer translocation through nanoslits and confined nanopores.
S. Buyukdagli, "Unified microscopic theory of equilibrium thermodynamics and ion association in aqueous and non-aqueous electrolytes with explicit hard-core size", arXiv:2510.07619 .
S. Buyukdagli, "Self-consistent electrostatic formalism of bulk electrolytes based on the asymmetric treatment of the short- and long-range ion interactions", Soft Matter 20, 9104 (2024).
S. Buyukdagli, "Systematic incorporation of ionic hard-core size into the Debye-Hückel theory via the cumulant expansion of the Schwinger-Dyson equations", Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation 20, 2729 (2024).
S. Buyukdagli, "Impact of the inner solute structure on the electrostatic mean-field and strong-coupling regimes of macromolecular interactions", Physical Review E 107, 064604 (2023).
S. Buyukdagli, "Sensing Translocating Polymers via Induced Magnetic Fields", Turkish Journal Of Physics 47, 93 (2023).
This article reporting the evaluation of the magnetic field signals induced by polymer translocation events has been published in a national journal as a compulsory requirement for the academic habilitation process of the Council of Higher Education.
X. Yang, S. Buyukdagli, A. Scacchi, M. Sammalkorpi, and T. Ala-Nissila, "Theoretical and computational analysis of the electrophoretic polymer mobility inversion induced by charge correlations", Physical Review E 107, 034503 (2023).
S. Buyukdagli, "Explicit Solvent Effects on Macromolecular Interactions From a Solvent-Augmented Contact Value Theorem", Physical Review E 106, 014608 (2022).
S. Buyukdagli, "Explicit solvent theory of salt-induced dielectric decrement", Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 24, 13976 (2022).
S. Buyukdagli, "Dielectric manipulation of polymer translocation dynamics in engineered membrane nanopores", Langmuir 38, 122 (2022).
S. Buyukdagli and Rudolf Podgornik, "Contribution of dipolar bridging to phospholipid membrane interactions: A mean-field analysis", Journal of Chemical Physics 154, 224902 (2021).
S. Buyukdagli, "Nanofluidic charge transport under strong electrostatic coupling conditions", Journal of Physical Chemistry B 124, 11299 (2020).
S. Buyukdagli and Rudolf Podgornik, "Interactions between zwitterionic membranes in complex electrolytes", Physical Review E 102, 012806 (2020).
S. Buyukdagli, "Schwinger-Dyson equations for composite electrolytes governed by mixed electrostatic coupling strengths", Journal of Chemical Physics 152, 014902 (2020).
Jalal Sarabadani, S. Buyukdagli, and T. Ala-Nissila, "Pulling a DNA molecule through a nanopore embedded in an anionic membrane: tension propagation coupled to electrostatics". Journal of Physics : Condensed Matter 32, 385101 (2020).
S. Buyukdagli and Rudolf Podgornik, "Like-charge polymer-membrane complexation mediated by multivalent cations: one-loop-dressed strong coupling theory", Journal of Chemical Physics 151, 094902 (2019)
S. Buyukdagli and Rudolf Podgornik, "Orientational transition and complexation of DNA with anionic membranes: weak and intermediate electrostatic coupling", Physical Review E 99, 062501 (2019).
S. Buyukdagli, T. Ala-Nissila, and R. Blossey, “Comment on "Nonlocal statistical field theory of dipolar particles in electrolyte solutions" by Y.A. Budkov", Journal of Physics : Condens. Matter 31, 078001 (2019).
S. Buyukdagli, Jalal Sarabadani, and T. Ala-Nissila, “Theoretical modeling of polymer translocation: From the electrohydrodynamics of short polymers to the fluctuating long polymers", Polymers 11, 118 (2019) (invited).
S. Buyukdagli, Jalal Sarabadani, and T. Ala-Nissila, “Dielectric trapping of biopolymers translocating through insulating membranes", Polymers 10, 1242 (2018) (invited).
S. Buyukdagli and T. Ala-Nissila, “pH-Mediated regulation of polymer transport through SiN pores", Europhysics Letters 123, 38003 (2018).
S. Buyukdagli, “Enhanced polymer capture speed and extended translocation time in pressure-solvation traps", Physical Review E 97, 062406 (2018).
S. Buyukdagli, “Facilitated polymer capture by charge inverted electroosmotic flow in voltage-driven polymer translocation", Soft Matter 14, 3541 (2018)
S. Buyukdagli and T. Ala-Nissila, “Multivalent cation induced attraction of anionic polymers by like-charged pores", Journal of Chemical Physics 147, 144901 (2017 ) (Editor's pick).
S. Buyukdagli and T. Ala-Nissila, “Controlling Polymer Capture and Translocation by Electrostatic Polymer-pore interactions", Journal of Chemical Physics 147, 114904 (2017).
S. Buyukdagli, “Like-charge attraction and opposite-charge decomplexation between polymers and DNA molecules", Physical Review E 95, 022502 (2017).
S. Buyukdagli and R. Blossey, “Correlation-induced DNA adsorption on like-charge membranes", Physical Review E 94, 042502 (2016).
S. Buyukdagli and T. Ala-Nissila, “Electrostatics of polymer translocation events in electrolyte solutions", Journal of Chemical Physics 145, 014902 (2016).
S. Buyukdagli and R. Blossey, “Beyond Poisson-Boltzmann : fluctuations and fluid structure in a self-consistent theory", Journal of Physics : Condensed Matter 28, 343001 (2016).
S. Buyukdagli and T. Ala-Nissila, “Electrostatic energy barriers from dielectric membranes upon approach of translocating DNA molecules", Journal of Chemical Physics 144, 084902 (2016).
S. Buyukdagli, “Electrostatic interactions in charged nanoslits within an explicit solvent theory”, Journal of Physics : Condensed Matter 27, 455101 (2015).
S. Buyukdagli, “Dielectric anisotropy in polar solvents under external fields”, Journal of Statistical Mechanics P08022 (2015).
S. Buyukdagli, Ralf Blossey, and T. Ala-Nissila, “Ionic current inversion in pressure-driven polymer translocation through nanopores”, Physical Review Letters 114, 088303 (2015).
S. Buyukdagli and T. Ala-Nissila, “Controlling electrophoretic polymer translocation via charge correlations”, Langmuir 30, 12907 (2014).
S. Buyukdagli and Ralf Blossey, “Dipolar correlations in structured solvents under nanoconfinement”, Journal of Chemical Physics 140, 234903 (2014).
S. Buyukdagli and Ralf Blossey, “Nonlocal and nonlinear electrostatics of a dipolar Coulomb fluid”, Journal of Physics : Condensed Matter 26, 285101 (2014).
S. Buyukdagli and T. Ala-Nissila, “Electrostatic correlations on the ionic selectivity of cylindrical membrane nanopores”, Journal of Chemical Physics 140, 064701 (2014).
S. Buyukdagli and T. Ala-Nissila, “Alteration of gas phase ion polarizabilities upon hydration in high dielectric liquids”, Journal of Chemical Physics 139, 044907 (2013).
S. Buyukdagli and T. Ala-Nissila, “Microscopic formulation of non-local electrostatics in polar liquids embedding polarizable ions”, Physical Review E 87, 063201 (2013).
S. Buyukdagli, C.V. Achim, and T. Ala-Nissila, “Electrostatic correlations in inhomogeneous charged fluids beyond loop expansion”, Journal of Chemical Physics 137, 104902 (2012).
S. Buyukdagli and T. Ala-Nissila, “Dipolar depletion effect on the differential capacitance of carbon based materials”, Europhysics Letters 98, 60003 (2012).
S. Buyukdagli and T. Ala-Nissila, “Excluded volume effects in macromolecular forces and ion-interface interactions”, Journal of Chemical Physics 136, 074901 (2012).
S. Buyukdagli, C. V. Achim, and T. Ala-Nissila, “Ion size effects at ionic exclusion from dielectric interfaces and slit nanopores”, Journal of Statistical Mechanics, P05033 (2011).
S. Buyukdagli, M. Manghi, and J. Palmeri, “Ionic exclusion phase transition in neutral and weakly charged cylindrical nanopores”, Journal of Chemical Physics 134, 074706 (2011).
S. Buyukdagli, M. Manghi, and J. Palmeri, “Ionic Capillary Evaporation in Weakly Charged Nanopores”, Physical Review Letters 105, 158103 (2010).
S. Buyukdagli, M. Manghi, and J. Palmeri, “Variational approach for electrolyte systems : from dielectric interfaces to charged nanopores”, Physical Review E 81, 041601 (2010).
Teaching :
Advanced Calculus for Applications in Physics, Bilkent University (spring 2016-...). Syllabus
General Physics : Electrostatics and Magnetism, Bilkent University (spring 2015-...). Phys102 website
General Physics : Classical Mechanics, Bilkent University (fall 2014-...). Phys101 website