Polymer adsorption is a fundamental problem in statistical mechanics that has
direct relevance to diverse disciplines ranging from biological lubrication to
stability of colloidal suspensions. We combine experiments with computer
simulations to investigate depletion induced adsorption of semi-flexible
polymers onto a hard-wall. Three dimensional filament configurations of
partially adsorbed F-actin polymers are visualized with total internal
reflection fluorescence microscopy. This information is used to determine the
location of the adsorption/desorption transition and extract the statistics of
trains, tails and loops of partially adsorbed filament configurations. In
contrast to long flexible filaments which primarily desorb by the formation of
loops, the desorption of stiff, finite-sized filaments is largely driven by
fluctuating filament tails. Simulations quantitatively reproduce our
experimental data and allow us to extract universal laws that explain scaling
of the adsorption-desorption transition with relevant microscopic parameters.
Our results demonstrate how the adhesion strength, filament stiffness, length,
as well as the configurational space accessible to the desorbed filament can be
used to design the characteristics of filament adsorption and thus engineer
properties of composite biopolymeric materials
