Can one detach a fully adsorbed flexible polymer chain by an ultra-small external force?
Full adsorption of flexible chains onto typical solid substrates occurs at a surface interaction energy of (5–10) kBT. The corresponding detachment force is in the range 10–50 pN. In contrast to “bare” solid substrates common to non-living materials, surfaces coated with brush-like polymer layers are very common in biological soft matter. We employ a simple mean-field approach to describe the effects of weak attraction between a floating long macromolecule and the brush. We show that even for a moderately thick brush a very small effective attraction is enough to produce complete binding of the long chain. The detachment force scales as , where W is the brush thickness. Hence the force coul…
Stimuli-responsive brushes with active minority components: Monte Carlo study and analytical theory
Using a combination of analytical theory, Monte Carlo simulations, and three dimensional self-consistent field calculations, we study the equilibrium properties and the switching behavior of adsorption-active polymer chains included in a homopolymer brush. The switching transition is driven by a conformational change of a small fraction of minority chains, which are attracted by the substrate. Depending on the strength of the attractive interaction, the minority chains assume one of two states: An exposed state characterized by a stem-crown-like conformation, and an adsorbed state characterized by a flat two-dimensional structure. Comparing the Monte Carlo simulations, which use an Edwards-…
Coil-bridge transition in a single polymer chain as an unconventional phase transition: theory and simulation.
The coil-bridge transition in a self-avoiding lattice chain with one end fixed at height H above the attractive planar surface is investigated by theory and Monte Carlo simulation. We focus on the details of the first-order phase transition between the coil state at large height H ⩾ Htr and a bridge state at H ⩽ Htr, where Htr corresponds to the coil-bridge transition point. The equilibrium properties of the chain were calculated using the Monte Carlo pruned-enriched Rosenbluth method in the moderate adsorption regime at (H/Na)tr ⩽ 0.27 where N is the number of monomer units of linear size a. An analytical theory of the coil-bridge transition for lattice chains with excluded volume interact…
Mechanical desorption of a single chain: unusual aspects of phase coexistence at a first-order transition.
The phase transition occurring when a single polymer chain adsorbed at a planar solid surface is mechanically desorbed is analyzed in two statistical ensembles. In the force ensemble, a constant force applied to the nongrafted end of the chain (that is grafted at its other end) is used as a given external control variable. In the $z$-ensemble, the displacement $z$ of this nongrafted end from the surface is taken as the externally controlled variable. Basic thermodynamic parameters, such as the adsorption energy, exhibit a very different behavior as a function of these control parameters. In the thermodynamic limit of infinite chain length the desorption transition with the force as a contro…
Sharp and fast: sensors and switches based on polymer brushes with adsorption-active minority chains.
We propose a design for polymer-based sensors and switches with sharp switching transition and fast response time. The switching mechanism involves a radical change in the conformations of adsorption-active minority chains in a brush. Such transitions can be induced by a temperature change of only about ten degrees, and the characteristic time of the conformational change is less than a second. We present an analytical theory for these switches and support it by self-consistent field calculations and Brownian dynamics simulations.
Polymer brushes with reversibly tunable grafting density.
We propose a novel class of responsive polymer brushes, where the effective grafting density can be controlled by external stimuli. This is achieved by using end-grafted polymer chains that have an affinity to the substrate. For sufficiently strong surface interactions, a fraction of chains condenses into a near-surface layer, while the remaining ones form the outer brush. The dense layer and the more tenuous outer brush can be seen as coexisting microphases. The effective grafting density of the outer brush is controlled by the adsorption strength and can be changed reversibly and in a controlled way as a response to changes in environmental parameters. The effect is demonstrated by numeri…