Adsorption of polymers at nanowires

TL;DR

This study uses Monte Carlo simulations to explore how polymers adsorb onto nanowires, revealing various conformations and transition behaviors influenced by substrate properties and attraction strength.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the structural phases and thermodynamics of polymer adsorption on nanowires through detailed computational analysis.

Findings

Different polymer conformations depend on substrate properties

Identification of adsorption transition temperatures

Characterization of adsorption-desorption transition types

Abstract

Low-energy structures of a hybrid system consisting of a polymer and an attractive nanowire substrate as well as the thermodynamics of the adsorption transition are studied by means of Monte Carlo computer simulations. Depending on structural and energetic properties of the substrate, we find different adsorbed polymer conformations, amongst which are spherical droplets attached to the wire and monolayer tubes surrounding it. We identify adsorption temperatures and the type of the transition between adsorbed and desorbed structures depending on the substrate attraction strength.