Star copolymers in porous environments: scaling and its manifestations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how quenched correlated disorder affects the scaling behavior of star copolymers in porous environments, revealing modifications in diffusion reactions and interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a field-theoretical renormalization group analysis of star copolymers with correlated disorder, extending understanding of their scaling laws in complex environments.

Findings

Disorder influences the scaling laws of star copolymers.

Correlated obstacles modify diffusion-controlled reactions.

Effective interactions between star copolymers are affected by disorder.

Abstract

We consider star polymers, consisting of two different polymer species, in a solvent subject to quenched correlated structural obstacles. We assume that the disorder is correlated with a power-law decay of the pair correlation function g(x)\sim x^{-a}. Applying the field-theoretical renormalization group approach in d dimensions, we analyze different scenarios of scaling behavior working to first order of a double \epsilon=4-d, \delta=4-a expansion. We discuss the influence of the correlated disorder on the resulting scaling laws and possible manifestations such as diffusion controlled reactions in the vicinity of absorbing traps placed on polymers as well as the effective short-distance interaction between star copolymers.