Monte Carlo simulations of the exchange kinetics of polymers adsorbed on a solid surface

The exchange kinetics of polymers adsorbing on a solid surface is extensively studied by dynamic Monte Carlo simulations. A model employed simulates a semidilute polymer solution placed in contact with a solid surface that attracts polymer segments by the adsorption interaction (χ_s). The exchange process of polymer chains, between the solution and the adsorbed polymer layer, is examined under various conditions. The exchange kinetics shows two characteristic regimes with increasing chain length. One is the diffusion‐controlled regime found with a small χ_s , and the other the detachment‐controlled regime with a large χ_s . These two regimes are well described by a kinetic theory. Various dynamic quantities show that the diffusion‐controlled regime is not due to sluggish dynamics near the surface, but rather to bulk diffusion of chains. The diffusion‐controlled regime found in this study is considered to appear at the high temperature limit.     

Relaxation of the surface energy of solid polymers

Summary The surface energy of a polymer can be increased by compression moulding against a metal substrate. After removal of the substrate relaxation to the equilibrium value sets in. We determined the rate of polymer surface energy relaxation as a function of temperature. For a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer we determined an activation energy of the relaxation process that could be correlated to segmental motions in this polymer. For a plasticized polyvinylchloride we found a lower activation energy and a larger rate of relaxation, which is the result of the action of plasticizers on segmental motions. In the case of polyethylene the results indicate segmental motions in amorphous regions in the polymer. With polyethylene the activation energy drops when nearing the melt temperature. The movements of molecular segments correspond to a desorption process at the polymer surface, after removal of the substrate. This agrees with the adsorption during compression moulding, as repotted in earlier work.

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Zusammenfassung Die Oberflächenenergie eines Kunststoffs kann erhöht werden durch Schmelzen auf einer Metalloberfläche. Nach Ablösen von der Metallfläche beginnt eine Relaxation zu dem Gleichgewichtswert für die Oberflächenenergie. Wir bestimmten die Geschwindigkeit der Relaxation als Funktion der Temperatur. Bei einem Vinylchlorid-Vinylazetat-Copolymer fanden wir eine Aktivierungsenergie für den Relaxationsprozeß entsprechend der Segmentbeweglichkeit im Polymeren. Bei einem plastifizierten PVC fanden wir eine geringere Aktivierungsenergie wegen der Mitwirkung des Weichmachers. Bei Polyäthylen wirkt sich die Segmentbewegung in den amorphen Anteilen des Polymers aus. Bei Polyäthylen nimmt die Aktivierungsenergie bei höherer Temperatur ab. Die Segmentbewegungen sind zu erklären durch einen Desorptionsprozeß an den Polymer-Oberflächen nach Entfernung des Substrats. Diese Ergebnisse bestätigen vorangehende Experimente, in denen wir Adsorption zum Substrat beim Spritzguß fanden.

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List of symbols A rate of degradation - k rate of relaxation - M number average molecular weight - T temperature - T _p highest temperature during compression moulding - T _R temperature during relaxation - t time after removal of substrate - _P polymer surface energy - _P ^O equilibrium value of polymer surface energy - t) _P – _P ^O excess polymer surface energy after compression moulding and removal of substrate With 6 figures and 1 table     

Effect of surface wettability on liquid density, structure, and diffusion near a solid surface

Molecular dynamics and Langevin dynamics simulations are used to elucidate the behavior of liquid atoms near a solid boundary. Correlations between the surface wettability and spatial variations in liquid density and structure are identified. The self-diffusion coefficient tensor is predicted, revealing highly anisotropic and spatially varying mass transfer phenomena near the solid boundary. This behavior affects self-diffusion at a range of time scales. Near a more-wetting surface, self-diffusion is impeded by strong solid-liquid interactions that induce sharp liquid density gradients and enhanced liquid structure. Conversely, near a less-wetting surface, where solid-liquid interactions are weaker, the liquid density is low, the atoms are disordered, and diffusion is enhanced. These findings suggest that altering the wettability of a micro- or nanochannel may provide a passive means for controlling the diffusion of select targets towards a functionalized surface and controlling the reaction rate in diffusion-limited reactions.     

Reversible photocontrol of surface wettability between hydrophilic and superhydrophobic surfaces on an asymmetric diarylethene solid surface

By alternate UV and visible light irradiation, reversible topographical changes were observed on a newly synthesized diarylethene microcrystalline surface between the rough crystalline surface of an open-ring isomer and flat eutectic surfaces. The contact angle changes of a water droplet between 80° and 150° and peak intensities changes of the open-ring isomer in XRD patterns within 2 h of repeating cycle were observed. The results indicated that reversibly photogenerated rod-shaped crystals on the surface were produced based on the lattice of the open-ring isomer crystals in the subphase.     

Influence of wettability and surface charge on the interaction between an aqueous electrolyte solution and a solid surface

The hydrodynamic drainage force of a Newtonian aqueous electrolyte solution squeezed between two surfaces of different wettability was measured using the AFM colloidal probe technique. The surface hydrophobicity, roughness, polarity and approach velocity, and thus the shearing rate of the liquid, were controlled. A direct relationship between the mobility of the aqueous electrolyte solution close to the surfaces and the hydrophobicity of the surfaces was not established. We predict that the mobility of the liquid depends in a more complex fashion on the polarity and charge of the surfaces and on the properties of the electrolyte.     

Motion of a drop on a solid surface due to a wettability gradient

The hydrodynamic force experienced by a spherical-cap drop moving on a solid surface is obtained from two approximate analytical solutions and used to predict the quasi-steady speed of the drop in a wettability gradient. One solution is based on approximation of the shape of the drop as a collection of wedges, and the other is based on lubrication theory. Also, asymptotic results from both approximations for small contact angles, as well as an asymptotic result from lubrication theory that is good when the length scale of the drop is large compared with the slip length, are given. The results for the hydrodynamic force also can be used to predict the quasi-steady speed of a drop sliding down an incline.     

Morphology of the surface layer of polymers modified by gaseous fluorine

A change in the surface structure of low-density polyethylene films upon chemical modification by gaseous fluorine has been studied by scanning electron microcopy and X-ray spectral analysis. It has been demonstrated that this treatment leads to formation of the wavy surface; its characteristics depend on the method of polymer synthesis and the initial structure of the test sample. A possible mechanism for structural changes in the surface layer of the polymer during fluorination is considered. It is suggested that the molar volume and the configuration of polymer macromolecules change in the course of replacement of hydrogen atoms with fluorine atoms. Mathematical modeling has been performed for the formation of the fluorinated layer with due regard for chemical transformations of macromolecules and structural heterogeneity of the polymers. The isosurfaces of the polymer with various degrees of fluorination calculated within the framework of the above model indicate that the fluorinated layer being formed is characterized by unequal thickness due to different rates of fluorine diffusion in amorphous and crystalline regions. It has been shown that the degree of fluorination of the polymer is dependent on the duration of treatment. This relationship is in satisfactory agreement with the previous experimental data.     

Influence of adsorbed polymers on the removal of mineral particles from a planar surface

 Experimental results on the role of adsorbed polymers on the particle adhesion are presented. Both Brownian (silica particles) and non-Brownian (glass beads) particles were used. The particles were deposited onto the internal surface of a glass parallelepiped cell, and then submitted to increasing laminar flow rates. The pH and the ionic strength of the electrolytes were fixed. The adhesive force was related to the hydrodynamic force required to dislodge 50% of the initially attached beads. We found that high molecular weight PEO had little effect on the adhesion of small silica beads due to the low affinity of the polymer for silica or glass surfaces. On the contrary, PEO greatly enhanced the adhesion of bigger glass beads forced to deposit on the capillary surface because of gravity. The increase was all the more pronounced as the molecular weight of the polymer was high. The effect of high molecular weight cationic copolymers on the adhesion of silica particles was drastic. The maximal force (1500 pN) applied by the device could not enable any particle detachment even using polymers of low cationicity rate (5%), showing the efficiency of electrostatic attractions. When copolymers were adsorbed on both surfaces (particles and plane), the adhesive force exhibited a maximum at intermediate coverage of particles. This optimum was related to the optimum flocculation concentration classically observed in flocculation of suspensions by polymers. Received: 16 February 1996 Accepted: 10 September 1996     

Electrokinetic effects of adsorbed neutral polymers

On the basis of a previously developed hydrodynamic model for adsorbed polymers the charge flow along a charged interface with adsorbed (uncharged) polymer is calculated. An effective electrokinetic layer thickness is defined and its dependence on the characteristics of the adsorbed polymer and the ionic strength is studied. It is found that tails are very important for the hydrodynamic effects considered because they effectively screen the solvent flow from inner parts of the absorbed layer. The electrokinetic layer thickness increases with decreasing ionic strength, and tends to a limit equal to the hydrodynamic thickness at very low ionic strength.     

Surface diffusion and relaxation of partially adsorbed polymers

We studied by lattice simulation the surface diffusion and relaxation of isolated, self‐avoiding polymers partially adsorbed onto a flat surface. The key parameters describing the system are the number of segments in the chain, N, the adsorption energy of a segment, expressed as a dimensionless surface temperature T_s, and the segmental friction factor on the surface relative to that in the bulk, ζ_s/ζ_b. The simulation data indicate Rouse scaling of the surface diffusion coefficient, D_∥, and in‐plane relaxation time, τ, versus N for all values of T_s and ζ_s/ζ_b studied. A simple application of the Rouse model to a partially adsorbed chain, which ignores fluctuations in adsorbed trains, yields a formula for D_∥ with the correct N‐scaling. It can account for the effects of T_s when ζ_s/ζ_b is finite (≲10), but it fails when ζ_s/ζ_b diverges, predicting no surface diffusion at all, whereas simulations indicate finite surface mobilities facilitated by a caterpillar‐like motion. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 1146–1154, 2000     

Conformational studies of bottle-brush polymers absorbed on a flat solid surface

The adsorption of a bottle-brush polymer end-grafted with one chain end of its backbone to a flat substrate surface is studied by Monte Carlo simulation of a coarse-grained model, that previously has been characterized in the bulk, assuming a dilute solution under good solvent conditions. Applying the bond fluctuation model on the simple cubic lattice, we vary the backbone chain length N(b) from N(b)=67 to N(b)=259 effective monomeric units, the side chain length N from N=6 to N=48, and set the grafting density to σ=1, i.e., parameters that correspond well to the experimentally accessible range. When the adsorption energy strength ? is varied, we find that the adsorption transition (which becomes well-defined in the limit N(b)→∞, for arbitrary finite N) roughly occurs at the same value ?(c) as for ordinary linear chains (N=0), at least within our statistical errors. Mean square end-to-end distances and gyration radii of the side chains are obtained, as well as the monomer density profile in the direction perpendicular to the adsorbing surface. We show that for longer side chains the adsorption of bottle-brushes is a two-step process, the decrease of the perpendicular linear dimension of side chains with adsorption energy strength can even be nonmonotonic. Also, the behavior of the static structure factor S(q) is analyzed, evidence for a quasi-two-dimensional scaling is presented, and consequences for the interpretation of experiments are discussed.     

固体表面荧光法测定吸附于白骨壤和木榄叶片上的蒽

以新鲜白骨壤和木榄叶片为基质,建立了直接测定吸附于叶片表面蒽(An)的固体表面荧光分析法(SSF).考察了白骨壤和木榄叶片上An的吸附量随An暴露浓度、暴露时间等因素的变化情况.方法测定吸附于白骨壤叶片上An的线性范围为0.92～8.71μg/g检出限为5.77 ng/g,加标回收率为79.2%～85.9%;测定吸附于木榄叶片上An的线性范围为89.5～698.2 ng/g,检出限为1.79 ng/g,加标回收率为75.1%～102.3%;对于两种叶片,方法的相对标准偏差都小于10%.     

Conformational behavior of polymers adsorbed on nanotubes

The importance of hydrophobic interactions in determining polymer adsorption and wrapping of carbon nanotubes is still under debate. In this work, we concentrate on the effect of short-ranged weakly attractive hydrophobic interactions between polymers and nanotubes (modeled as an infinitely long and smooth cylindrical surface), neglecting all other interactions apart for chain flexibility. Using coarse-grained Monte Carlo simulation of such simplified systems, we find that uniform adsorption and wrapping of the nanotube occur for all degrees of chain flexibility for tubes with sufficiently large outer radii. However, the adsorbed conformations depend on chain stiffness, ranging from randomly adsorbed conformations of the flexible chain to perfect helical or multihelical conformations (in the case of more concentrated solutions) of the rigid chains. Adsorption appears to occur in a sequential manner, wrapping the nanotube nearly one monomer at a time from the point of contact. Once adsorbed, the chains travel on the surface of the cylinder, retaining their helical conformations for the semiflexible and rigid chains. Our findings may provide additional insight to experimentally observed ordered polymer wrapping of carbon nanotubes.     

Site blocking effect on the conformation of adsorbed cationic polyacrylamide on a solid surface

It has been known that pre-adsorbed polymers on a solid surface can block some adsorption sites for a post-added polymer on the same substrate. If the charge of pre-adsorbed polymer is the same as that of post-adsorbed polymer, the repulsion force between these two polymers will change not only the polymer adsorption amount but also the conformation and the properties of the polymer on the substrate. The site blocking effect is a possible mechanism in many commonly used flocculation programs. However, no research has been able to confirm the proposed theory of its effects on adsorbed polymer conformation. This work reports, for the first time, detailed information regarding the effects of site blocking on an adsorbed polymer's conformation using scanning probe microscopy. Using both polymers and nanoparticles as site blocking additives, experiments were performed on single cationic polyacrylamide polymers. This work illustrates that the increased thickness in adsorbed polymer layers, reported by previous researchers, is due to a dramatic increase in the tail portion of the adsorbed polymer. The previously postulated increase in adsorbed polymer loop lengths was not present in these experiments.     

Experiments on the motion of drops on a horizontal solid surface due to a wettability gradient

Results from experiments performed on the motion of drops of tetraethylene glycol in a wettability gradient present on a silicon surface are reported and compared with predictions from a recently developed theoretical model. The gradient in wettability was formed by exposing strips cut from a silicon wafer to dodecyltrichlorosilane vapors. Video images of the drops captured during the experiments were subsequently analyzed for drop size and velocity as functions of position along the gradient. In separate experiments on the same strips, the static contact angle formed by small drops was measured and used to obtain the local wettability gradient to which a drop is subjected. The velocity of the drops was found to be a strong function of position along the gradient. A quasi-steady theoretical model that balances the local hydrodynamic resistance with the local driving force generally describes the observations; possible reasons for the remaining discrepancies are discussed. It is shown that a model in which the driving force is reduced to accommodate the hysteresis effect inferred from the data is able to remove most of the discrepancy between the observed and predicted velocities.     

Modulation of solid surface with desirable under-liquid wettability based on molecular hydrophilic–lipophilic balance

There has been great interest in the fabrication of solid surfaces with desirable under-liquid wettability, and especially under-liquid dual-lyophobicity, because of their potential for widespread use. However, there remains the lack of a general principle to modulate the under-liquid wettability in terms of surface energy (SE). Herein, we found that the relative proportion between the polar and dispersive components in SE that reflects the competition between hydrophilicity and lipophilicity governs the under-liquid wettability of the solid surface. For the first time, we introduced hydrophilic–lipophilic balance (HLB) calculated solely based on the amount and type of hydrophilic and lipophilic fragments in surface molecules to rapidly predict the under-liquid wettability of a solid surface, thereby guiding the fabrication of solid surfaces with desirable under-liquid wettability. Accordingly, the under-liquid dual superlyophobic surfaces in a nonpolar oil–water-solid system were fabricated by grafting molecules with appropriate HLB values (e.g., 6.341–7.673 in a cyclohexane–water–solid system) onto porous nanofibrous membranes, which were able to achieve continuous separation of oil–water mixtures. This work provides reasonable guidance for the fabrication of solid surfaces with targeted under-liquid wettability, which may lead to advanced applications in oil–water–solid systems.

Hydrophilic–lipophilic balance calculated based on the component of surface molecules is introduced to predict the under-liquid wettability of solid surfaces, thereby guiding the fabrication of solid surface with desirable under-liquid wettabilities.     

Morphology of organosilicon ladder polymers

The morphology of organosilicon ladder polymers was studied by various methods, including x-ray techniques, diffraction of monochromatic polarized light, and electron microscopy. The morphology is discussed as a function of the chemical composition, the molecular weight, and the method of preparation.     

Analytical solutions to mathematical models of the surface and bulk erosion of solid polymers

The process by which polymeric materials hydrolyze and disappear into their environments is often called erosion. Two types of erosion have been defined according to how the hydrolysis takes place. If hydrolysis occurs throughout the entire specimen at the same time, it is called bulk erosion. If the hydrolysis is mainly confined to a region near the surface of the specimen and the surface continuously degrades by moving inward, it is termed surface erosion. In this article, a kinetic relationship for bulk erosion is developed. This relationship provides a method for estimating the hydrolysis kinetic constants for bulk‐eroding polymers. This same relationship is also applicable to surface erosion at a microscopic level. Through its combination with a diffusion–reaction equation and the provision of moving boundary conditions, an analytical solution to the steady‐state surface‐erosion problem is obtained. The erosion rate, erosion front width, and induction time can all be expressed as simple functions of the rate of polymer bond hydrolysis, water diffusivity, and solubility, plus other parameters that can be experimentally determined. The erosion front width is the product of the induction time and the erosion rate. The ratio of the erosion front width to the polymer specimen thickness is a parameter that determines whether the specimen undergoes surface or bulk erosion. Theoretical results are compared with experimental observations from the literature, and agreement is found. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43: 383–397, 2005     

Simple models of adsorbed polymers: Vibrational properties

The vibrational properties of polymers adsorbed on surfaces are investigated within the frame of two simple models. First the surface is modelled as a one-dimensional infinite harmonic chain. Polymeric “ molecules ” are represented as harmonic chains of finite length. The coupling between the polymers and the surface is treated within the frame of the Interface Response Theory. Upon adsorption of polymers, resonant vibrational modes appear as well defined peaks in the variation of the density of states of the system. The effect of the interaction between adsorbed polymers via phonons is investigated and shown to lead to antiresonances in the spectral density of states and the formation of gaps in the density of states as the surface coverage is increased. A second more realistic model is introduced where the same finite harmonic chains (polymers) are grafted on a two dimensional [001] surface cut through a cubic harmonic crystal. Again the variation in density of states exhibits resonant modes between the polymers and the substrate. However, in this case, the interaction between polymers is short range. Adsorption of a film of polymers produces resonant modes which remain well-defined features within the substrate bulk band.