Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, Vol.54, No.22, 2359-2367, 2016
Simulation Study on the Coil-Globule Transition of Adsorbed Polymers
Coil-globule transition of adsorbed polymers on attractive surface is simulated by using dynamic Monte Carlo simulation. The effect of surface attraction strength E-PS and intrachain attraction strength E-PP on polymer phases is investigated. The coil-globule transition point is dependent on E-PS, while the globule conformation is dependent on both E-PS and E-PP. At small E-PS, the conformation of adsorbed polymer is three-dimensional layer structure. While at large E-PS, the conformation of adsorbed polymer is roughly two-dimensional (2D) at E-PP=0, and we observe a 2D coil-globule transition at E-PP* and a layer-forming transition from 2D conformation to three-dimensional layer structure at E-PP,E-L* > E-PP. The layer-forming transition point E-PP,E-L* increases with E-PS as E-PP,E- L*=E-PS-1.4. In addition, we find that the adsorption suppresses the coil-globule transition, i.e., the coil-globule transition point E-PP* increases with the increase in E-PS. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.