English

Single polymer adsorption in shear: flattening versus hydrodynamic lift and corrugation effects

Soft Condensed Matter 2015-05-20 v1

Abstract

The adsorption of a single polymer to a flat surface in shear is investigated using Brownian hydrodynamics simulations and scaling arguments. Competing effects are disentangled: in the absence of hydrodynamic interactions, shear drag flattens the chain and thus enhances adsorption. Hydrodynamic lift on the other hand gives rise to long-ranged repulsion from the surface which preempts the surface-adsorbed state via a discontinuous desorption transition, in agreement with theoretical arguments. Chain flattening is dominated by hydrodynamic lift, so overall, shear flow weakens the adsorption of flexible polymers. Surface friction due to small-wavelength surface potential corrugations is argued to weaken the surface attraction as well.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1010.5083,
  title  = {Single polymer adsorption in shear: flattening versus hydrodynamic lift and corrugation effects},
  author = {Andreas Serr and Christian Sendner and Florian Mueller and Thomas R. Einert and Roland R. Netz},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1010.5083},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

6 pages, 4 figures