A self-consistent field study on the adsorption of symmetrical triblock copolymers between two parallel planes

Abstract

Using the continuum self-consistent field theory (SCFT), the adsorption of flexible symmetrical triblock polymers onto the surfaces of two identical parallel planes immersed in a neutral solution was studied. The effects of various parameters, such as the interface adhesive energy, the polymer composition and the bulk polymer concentration, on the conformations and total adsorption amount of polymers were explored. It was found that the dependence of the amount of bridges on the interface adhesion and that of the amount of tails on the length of adhesive blocks were both non-monotonous. The amounts of the four chain conformations scaled nearly linearly to the copolymer bulk concentration. The nonequivalence of the dependence of the adsorbed structure behaviors on the interface affinity and the length of sticky blocks was revealed as well.