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Lattice theory for binding of linear polymers to a solid substrate from polymer melts: I. In?uence of chain connectivity on molecular binding and adsorption

Published

Author(s)

Jack F. Douglas, J Dudowicz, Freed Karl

Abstract

Most theories of the molecular binding to surfaces, or between molecules, treat the binding species as structureless entities and further neglect their rigidity and changes in their stiffness arising from the binding process. The binding species are also taken to be ideal, meaning that the existence of van der Waals interactions and changes in these interactions upon molecular binding are also neglected. An understanding of the thermodynamics of these multi-functional molecular binding processes has recently come into focus in the con-text of the molecular binding of complex molecules, such as dendrimers and DNA grafted nanoparticles, to surfaces where the degree of binding cooperativity and selectivity, as well as the location of the binding transition itself, are found to be sensitive to the number of binding units constrained to a larger scale polymeric scaffold. We address this fundamental problem of molecular binding by extending the classical Langmuir theory to describe the particular example of the reversible binding of semiflexible polymer chains to a solid substrate under melt conditions.
Citation
Journal of Chemical Physics

Keywords

Langmuir theory, binding of polymers to surfaces, cooperativity, chain flexibility

Citation

Douglas, J. , Dudowicz, J. and Karl, F. (2019), Lattice theory for binding of linear polymers to a solid substrate from polymer melts: I. In?uence of chain connectivity on molecular binding and adsorption, Journal of Chemical Physics (Accessed March 28, 2024)
Created September 27, 2019, Updated April 24, 2020