Equivalence of chain conformations in the surface region of a polymer melt and a single Gaussian chain under critical conditions.

In the melt polymer conformations are nearly ideal according to Flory's ideality hypothesis. Silberberg generalized this statement for chains in the interfacial region. We check the Silberberg argument by analyzing the conformations of a probe chain end-grafted at a solid surface in a sea of floating free chains of concentration φ by the self-consistent field (SCF) method.

Reconciling lattice and continuum models for polymers at interfaces.

It is well known that lattice and continuum descriptions for polymers at interfaces are, in principle, equivalent. In order to compare the two models quantitatively, one needs a relation between the inverse extrapolation length c as used in continuum theories and the lattice adsorption parameter Δχ(s) (defined with respect to the critical point). So far, this has been done only for ideal chains with zero segment volume in extremely dilute solutions.

Polymers at interfaces and in colloidal dispersions.

This review is an extended version of the Overbeek lecture 2009, given at the occasion of the 23rd Conference of ECIS (European Colloid and Interface Society) in Antalya, where I received the fifth Overbeek Gold Medal awarded by ECIS. I first summarize the basics of numerical SF-SCF: the Scheutjens-Fleer version of Self-Consistent-Field theory for inhomogeneous systems, including polymer adsorption and depletion. The conformational statistics are taken from the (non-SCF) DiMarzio-Rubin lattice model for homopolymer adsorption, which enumerates the conformational details exactly by a discrete propagator for the endpoint distribution but does not account for polymer-solvent interaction and for the volume-filling constraint.

Analytical theory of finite-size effects in mechanical desorption of a polymer chain.

We discuss a unique system that allows exact analytical investigation of first- and second-order transitions with finite-size effects: mechanical desorption of an ideal lattice polymer chain grafted with one end to a solid substrate with a pulling force applied to the other end. We exploit the analogy with a continuum model and use accurate mapping between the parameters in continuum and lattice descriptions, which leads to a fully analytical partition function as a function of chain length, temperature (or adsorption strength), and pulling force. The adsorption-desorption phase diagram, which gives the critical force as a function of temperature, is nonmonotonic and gives rise to re-entrance.

Temperature effects in the mechanical desorption of an infinitely long lattice chain: re-entrant phase diagrams.

We consider the mechanical desorption of an infinitely long lattice polymer chain tethered at one end to an adsorbing surface. The external force is applied to the free end of the chain and is normal to the surface. There is a critical value of the desorption force f(tr) at which the chain desorbs in a first-order phase transition.