1. Investigation of Polymer Chain Diffusion Behavior in Thin Slits Formed by Patch-Patterned Surfaces: Influence of Patch Properties.
- Author
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Zhang HN, Wang GA, Qi HK, Yang QH, and Luo MB
- Abstract
The diffusion dynamics of polymer chains within a narrow slit formed by two patch-patterned surfaces is investigated utilizing Langevin dynamics simulations. These surfaces feature periodically arranged attractive patches of size L and period d , with a staggered configuration of (0.5 d , 0.5 d ) offsets along the x and y axes. When d is fixed, the polymer chain exhibits normal diffusion over long time scales, with the translational diffusion coefficient D
xy gradually decreasing to zero as L increases. Notably, our findings reveal four distinct diffusion modes: free-diffusion mode for L ≤ L1 , where the polymer chain is mainly in a desorption state; adsorption-desorption mode for L1 < L ≤ L2 , involving transitions from a single-patch adsorption state to a desorption state; exchange-patch mode for L2 < L ≤ L3 , where the polymer chain switches between a single-patch adsorption state and an upper-lower double-patch adsorption state by exchanging patches; and nondiffusion mode for L > L3 , where the polymer chain is primarily in a pinned state. Furthermore, as the patch attraction strength εps increases, Dxy decreases due to an increase in the adsorption time of the polymer chain. Simultaneously, critical patch size thresholds L1 , L2 , and L3 , exhibit a decreasing trend. These observations highlight the significant influence of the confining slit and patch properties on the diffusion behavior of polymer chains.- Published
- 2024
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