Order in semiflexible polymers at an interface.
In the present paper, the simultaneous effect on a polymer of orientation by a solid surface and strong repulsion at the interface with an incompatible liquid is studied. Semiflexible polymers resist deformations perpendicular to the monomer and have a tendency to align in a given direction in contact with a surface. When a second incompatible liquid is added, a sharp interface between the two liquids forms at a given distance from the substrate. By changing the nature of the second liquid, this second constraint can control the order and force the polymer in the ordered surface layer to assume different conformations. The wormlike chain is used to define the parameters of the system that will determine the resulting conformation. An extended or contracted form is found depending on how the chains interact with the liquid.
ten Bosch
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Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée, CNRS UMR 6622, Parc Valrose, F-06108 Nice Cedex 2, France. tenbosch@unice.fr