Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 55, Number 3, August 2001
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 348 - 354 | |
Section | Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2001-00422-6 | |
Published online | 01 December 2003 |
A practical density functional for polydisperse polymers
1
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Kings Buildings
Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, UK
2
Departament de Física Fonamental, Universitat de Barcelona
Av. Diagonal 647, 08028-Barcelona, Spain
Received:
9
April
2001
Accepted:
23
May
2001
The Flory-Huggins equation of state for monodisperse polymers can be turned into a density functional by adding a square gradient term, with a coefficient fixed by appeal to RPA (random phase approximation). We present instead a model nonlocal functional in which each polymer is replaced by a deterministic, penetrable particle of known shape. This reproduces the RPA and square gradient theories in the small deviation and/or weak gradient limits, and can readily be extended to polydisperse chains. The utility of the new functional is shown for the case of a polydisperse polymer solution at coexistence in a poor solvent.
PACS: 61.20.Gy – Theory and models of liquid structure / 61.25.Hq – Macromolecular and polymer solutions; polymer melts; swelling / 64.75.+g – Solubility, segregation, and mixing; phase separation
© EDP Sciences, 2001
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.