Does a surface attached globule phase exist?

Abstract

A long flexible neutral polymer chain immersed in a poor solvent and interacting with an impenetrable attractive surface exhibits a phase known as surface attached globule (SAG) in addition to other adsorbed and desorbed phases. In the thermodynamic limit, the SAG phase has the same free energy per monomer as the globular phase, and the transition between them is a surface transition. We have investigated the phase diagrams of such a chain in both two- and three-dimensions and calculated the distribution of monomers in different domains of the phase diagram. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.