Colloids with polymer stars: The interaction

TL;DR

This paper derives the short-distance interaction forces between star polymers with arbitrary arm numbers in colloidal solutions, confirming a scaling theory through renormalization group analysis.

Contribution

It extends the scaling theory of star polymer interactions to arbitrary arm numbers and validates it with detailed renormalization group calculations.

Findings

Scaling theory matches renormalization group results for f_1 + f_2 <= 6

Interaction forces depend on the number of arms of the star polymers

Theoretical predictions are confirmed for a range of arm numbers

Abstract

We derive the short distance interaction of star polymers in a colloidal solution. We calculate the corresponding force between two stars with arbitrary numbers of legs f_1 and f_2. We show that a simple scaling theory originally derived for high f_1, f_2 nicely matches with the results of elaborated renormalization group analysis for f_1 + f_2 =< 6 generalizing and confirming a previous conjecture based only on scaling results for f_1=f_2=1,2.