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Interfacial properties of diblock copolymers at penetrable interfaces: Density profile, stretching, and interfacial tension
Author(s) -
Khattari Ziad
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
macromolecular theory and simulations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1521-3919
pISSN - 1022-1344
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-3919(19990501)8:3<191::aid-mats191>3.0.co;2-e
Subject(s) - copolymer , surface tension , materials science , polymer chemistry , chain (unit) , polymerization , polymer , thermodynamics , composite material , physics , astronomy
The interfacial properties of diblock ( AB ) copolymers near an interface between two solvents are studied by using the exact Green's function of a Gaussian copolymer chain at an attractive penetrable interface. We have studied the mean‐square end‐to‐end distance of the copolymer, 〈 R 2 ( z )〉, as a function of the distance of the joint point of the copolymer to the interface, z , the segment density distribution ρ ( z ), and the reduction of the interfacial tension Δ γ c due to the presence of the diblock copolymer. The density profile and the stretching of the copolymer chain are in agreement with both experimental results and simulations. The reduction in the interfacial tension is found to decrease with the increase in the degree of polymerization of the copolymer chain.