11,422 research outputs found
Aggregates of rod-coil diblock copolymers adsorbed at a surface
The behaviour of rod-coil diblock copolymers close to a surface is discussed
by using extended scaling methods. The copolymers are immersed in selective
solvent such that the rods are likely to aggregate to gain energy. The rods are
assumed to align only parallel to each other, such that they gain a maximum
energy by forming liquid crystalline structures. If an aggregate of these
copolymers adsorbs with the rods parallel to the surface the rods shift with
respect to each other to allow for the chains to gain entropy. It is shown that
this shift decays with increasing distance from the surface. The profile of
this decay away from the surface is calculated by minimisation of the total
free energy of the system. The stability of such an adsorbed aggregate and
other possible configurations are discussed as well.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure
- …