Monte Carlo simulations of random copolymers at a selective interface

Abstract

We investigate numerically using the bond--fluctuation model the adsorption of a random AB--copolymer at the interface between two solvents. From our results we infer several scaling relations: the radius of gyration of the copolymer in the direction perpendicular to the interface ($R_{gz}$) scales with $\chi$, the interfacial selectivity strength, as $R_{gz}=N^{\nu }f(\sqrt{N}\chi )$ where $\nu$ is the usual Flory exponent and $N$ is the copolymer's length; furthermore the monomer density at the interface scales as ${\chi }^{2\nu }$ for small $\chi$. We also determine numerically the monomer densities in the two solvents and discuss their dependence on the distance from the interface.

Latex text file appended with figures.tar.gz

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Localization of a multiblock copolymer at a selective interface: Scaling predictions and Monte Carlo verification
• Monte Carlo simulations of copolymers at homopolymer interfaces: Interfacial structure as a function of the copolymer density
• A Variational Approach to the Localization Transition of Heteropolymers at Interfaces
• Kinetics of copolymer localization at a selective liquid-liquid interface