Pulling an adsorbed polymer chain off a solid surface

• Published in: The European physical journal. E, Soft matter and biological physics Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 285 - 297
• Main Authors: Bhattacharya, S., Milchev, A., Rostiashvili, V. G., Vilgis, T. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01-07-2009; EDP Sciences
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics; Complex Fluids and Microfluidics; Complex Systems; Exact sciences and technology; Nanotechnology; Organic polymers; Physicochemistry of polymers; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Polymer Sciences; Properties and characterization; Regular Article; Soft and Granular Matter; Surface properties; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; 62.25.+g Mechanical properties of nanoscale systems; 82.35.Gh Polymers on surfaces; adhesion; 64.60.A- Specific approaches applied to studies of phase transitions; Monte Carlo method; Computer simulation; Liquid solid adsorption; Phase diagram; Theoretical study; Polymer; Thermodynamic properties; Unsticking; Modeling
• ISSN: 1292-8941; 1292-895X
• DOI: 10.1140/epje/i2009-10492-8

The thermally assisted detachment of a self-avoiding polymer chain from an adhesive surface by an external force applied to one of the chain-ends is investigated. We perform our study in the “fixed height” statistical ensemble where one measures the fluctuating force, exerted by the chain on the last monomer when a chain-end is kept fixed at height
h
over the solid plane at different adsorption strength
. The phase diagram in the
h
-
plane is calculated both analytically and by Monte Carlo simulations. We demonstrate that in the vicinity of the polymer desorption transition a number of properties like fluctuations and probability distribution of various quantities behave differently, if
h
rather than
f
is used as an independent control parameter.