Adsorption-like Collapse of Diblock Copolymers

TL;DR

This paper investigates a novel collapse transition in diblock copolymers with reciprocally attracting blocks, revealing unique geometric and scaling properties through extensive Monte Carlo simulations in two and three dimensions.

Contribution

It introduces a new type of collapse transition in diblock copolymers and predicts contact scaling using percolation theory, supported by extensive simulations.

Findings

Number of contacts grows as N^{9/16} in 2D

Blocks form spiral, double chain structures in the compact phase

Identifies a novel transition with unique exponents

Abstract

A linear copolymer made of two reciprocally attracting N-monomer blocks collapses to a compact phase through a novel transition, whose exponents are determined with extensive MC simulations in two and three dimensions. In the former case, an identification with the statistical geometry of suitable percolation paths allows to predict that the number of contacts between the blocks grows like $N^{9/16}$. In the compact phase the blocks are mixed and, in two dimensions, also zipped, in such a way to form a spiral, double chain structure.