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Effect of Comonomer Sequence Distribution on the Adsorption of Random Copolymers onto Impenetrable Flat Surfaces

Authors :
Jan Genzer
Martin S. Beevers
Pavel G. Khalatur
Young K. Jhon
Alexei R. Khokhlov
James J. Semler
Olga Guskova
Source :
Macromolecules. 42:2843-2853
Publication Year :
2009
Publisher :
American Chemical Society (ACS), 2009.

Abstract

We study the effect of comonomer sequence distributions in random copolymers (RCPs) on RCP adsorption on flat impenetrable surfaces. RCP poly(styrene-co-4-bromostyrene) (PBrxS), where x denotes the mole fraction of 4-bromostryrene (4-BrS), is prepared by bromination of parent homopolystyrene. By varying the solvent quality during the bromination, either “truly random” (good solvent) or “random-blocky” (poor solvent) PBrxS RCPs are prepared. Adsorption studies of PBrxS from various solvents at silica surfaces reveal that the adsorption of PBrxS increases with (1) increasing blockiness of the macromolecule, (2) increasing content of 4-BrS in PBrxS, and (3) decreasing solvent quality. Additionally, the effect of comonomer sequence distribution on RCP adsorption is modeled in detail using a coarse-grained statistical mechanical model and fully atomistic simulations based on configurational-biased grand-canonical Monte Carlo (CB-GCMC) technique. The main result from the simulations can be summarized as follows...

Details

ISSN :
15205835 and 00249297
Volume :
42
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Macromolecules
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........0008b3603c2bc7c9984a5d689882a025