Thin Solid Films, Vol.327-329, 850-853, 1998
Monolayer properties of amphiphilic molecules supported on nano-rough surfaces: a Monte Carlo study
The ballistic deposition model with the nearest-neighbor sticking rule was applied to generate nano-rough model surfaces on a cubic lattice. Different degrees of surface roughness were obtained through selection of particular deposition times. Flexible amphiphiles were introduced as M-mer chain molecules with their heads grafted to the surface. Excluded volume interactions were applied. Typical monolayer properties of the amphiphile layer under periodic boundary conditions were determined by Monte Carlo simulations using a modified Metropolis sampling technique. Equilibrium monolayers were characterized by mean values of the chain end-to-end vector including its length and projection. Further, density and grafting profiles are presented. These monolayer properties were studied as a function of surface roughness, surface coverage and molecular chain length. A scaling analysis was undertaken for the density profiles. Results for rough surfaces are compared with results from Monte Carlo simulation for amphiphiles on planar surfaces.