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Authors Werner, M. ; Sommer, J.-U.
Title Polymer-decorated tethered membranes under good- and poor-solvent conditions
Date 20.05.2010
Number 22804
Abstract We study tethered membranes grafted by polymer chains on one side. Mean-field and scaling arguments predicting a spontaneous curvature are compared to the results of lattice-based Monte Carlo simulations using the Bond Fluctuation Model, which are carried out for various grafting densities and chain lengths. We show that already slightly overlapping chains bend the membrane significantly. This proves the entropic origin for the bending stiffness, which is of order kT . To understand the membrane curvature under conditions of very small bending stiffness we apply a geometrical model which takes into account the state of chains at the overlap threshold. Applying a thermal solvent model for the grafted chains, we demonstrate that the bending direction of the membrane can be triggered by variation of the solvent quality. This indicates that polymer-decorated membranes may serve as switchable nanoscale devices.
Publisher European Physical Journal / E
Wikidata
Citation European Physical Journal / E 31 (2010) 383-392
DOI https://doi.org/epje/i2010-10576-4
Tags octopus surface micelles monte-carlo anchored polymers statistical-mechanics molecular-dynamics elastic properties grafted polymers fluctuations dimensions transition

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