Solvent-dependent critical properties of polymer adsorption

Solvent-dependent critical properties of polymer adsorption.

Advanced chain-growth computer simulation methodologies have been employed for a systematic statistical analysis of the critical behavior of a polymer adsorbing at a substrate. We use finite-size scaling techniques to investigate the solvent-quality dependence of critical exponents, critical temperature, and the structure of the phase diagram. Our study covers all solvent effects from the limit...

Polymer adsorption in a poor solvent

We dlscujs polymer adsorption in a poor solvent. For a single chain we find a wetting transition on an attractive wall when the thermal correlation length f is of the order of the adsorption length D If D is larger than f, for weak adsorption, the polymer chain partially wets the solid surface in the same way as a small liquid drop if D is smaller than f, strong adsorption, the chain forms a fl...

Critical adsorption of a single macromolecule in polymer brushes.

The adsorption of long flexible macromolecules by polymer brush-coated surfaces is studied by molecular dynamics simulations and by calculations using density functional and self-consistent field theories. The case of repulsive interactions between the substrate surface and the monomers of both the brush polymers and the extra chains that can get absorbed into the brush is considered. Under goo...

Critical properties of crosslinked polymer melts

2014 The critical behavior at the percolation threshold for a randomly crosslinked polymer melt of linear chains is studied by computer simulations. We show that the fraction of crosslinks per chain pc at the vulcanization/percolation threshold is independent of chain length N for large N. Thus for long chains, the volume fraction of crosslinks at the transition decreases as 1/N in agreement wi...

Tricritical properties of polymer chains in a poor solvent