Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 34, Number 8, June II 1996
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 563 - 568 | |
Section | Condensed matter: structure, thermal and mechanical properties | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i1996-00495-1 | |
Published online | 01 September 2002 |
Single-chain collapse as a first-order transition: model for PEO in water
1
Materials Research Laboratory, University of California,
Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
2
Institut für Festkörperforschung, Forschungzentrum Jülich,
Postfach 1913, D-52425 Jülich, Germany
3
Max-Planck-Institut für Polymerforschung - Postfach 3148,
D-55021 Mainz, Germany
A simple model for polyethyleneoxide (PEO) is introduced and analyzed by Monte Carlo simulation. The occurrence of a solvation shell of PEO in water is modeled by two internal states of the monomers with an energy difference . In the solvated state the monomer excluded volume increases due to the bound water and prevents the collapse of the poor-solvent backbone. As a function of , which can be positive or negative, we find for a first-order collapse transition, while for the standard -point is recovered. Thus, if the solvation shell is accompanied by a lower internal energy ( as for PEO), the transition is always of first order.
PACS: 61.25.Hq – Macromolecular and polymer solutions; polymer melts / 64.70.-p – Phase equilibria, phase transitions, and critical points of specific substances / 64.75.+g – Solubility, segregation, and mixing
© EDP Sciences, 1996
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.