Adsorption of binary polymer mixtures with different topology on a wall

• Main Authors: Francis M. Gaitho, Giuseppe Pellicane
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2019-03-01
• Series: Results in Physics
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211379718324653

We consider a binary mixture of two polymers with different architecture, consisting of linear and cyclic chains. We study this system by performing extensive molecular dynamics computer simulations of bead-spring models, which possess the open-chain and loop topology. The system is confined between two walls, and we consider both the case of attractive- and repulsive polymer-wall interactions. By changing the chain length of the two polymers so as to encompass two regimes with low and high degree of polymerization, we show the effect on the structural properties at the interface. Our results provide some physical insight on the competition between polymer architecture and chain length in determining the surface adsorption. 2000 MSC: 41A05, 41A10, 65D05, 65D17, Keywords: Adsorption, Polymer architecture, Wall-fluid potential