Smeared Charges in MesoCite DPD Simulations

Dear colleagues,

I am a PhD student currently working on modeling charged surfactant systems in MesoCite. The documentation ("Tasks in Mesocite") mentions the option to "use smeared charges," but I would appreciate some clarification on the implementation details.

  1. Should the charges be assigned to the beads directly in the Properties Explorer, or is it preferable to define them via the "Types/Interactions" section within the Forcefield Document?

  2. In the "Electrostatic Interaction" tab (Forcefield Document), could you kindly advise on the correct way to specify bead-bead interactions for the ErfR functional form? Specifically, how should parameters be set for ion pairs such as Cl⁻ and Na⁺?

Thank you in advance for your guidance!