Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 67, Number 3, August 2004
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 425 - 431 | |
Section | Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2003-10297-5 | |
Published online | 01 July 2004 |
Irreversible vs. reversible coating
1
Institute of Fundmental Physics and Department of Physics, Sejong University Seoul 143-743, South Korea
2
LEA MPIP/ICS, Max-Planck Institute für Polymerforschung 55128 Mainz, Germany
3
LEA MPIP/ICS, Institut Charles Sadron - 67083 Strasbourg Cedex, France
Received:
25
November
2003
Accepted:
28
May
2004
We discuss theoretically the composition of a coating, formed by polymers that can adsorb by both ends, in terms of loops (double-bounded chains) and tails (single-bounded chains) as a function of surface coverage and concentration of the adsorbing solution. Both irreversible adsorption (e.g., by chemical surface reaction) and reversible adsorption (e.g., by van der Waals interactions) are considered. Tails are found to be scarce but their amount controls surface properties such as roughness, dewetting or early bridging interactions. The population of tails is a non-monotonic function of coverage. We show that for irreversible adsorption the composition as a function of (the time-dependent) coverage follows a universal (independent of sample history) law at high coverage. This law is similar to, but qualitatively different from, the Mass Action Law describing coatings at equilibrium.
PACS: 68.43.-h – Chemisorption/physisorption: adsorbates on surfaces / 36.20.Ey – Exotic atoms and molecules; macromolecules; clusters: Conformation (statistics and dynamics) / 05.70.Ln – Nonequilibrium and irreversible thermodynamics
© EDP Sciences, 2004
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.