Adsorption of a semiflexible polymer onto interfaces and surfaces

Abstract

We consider the adsorption of a semiflexible polymer chain onto interfaces and surfaces by using the differential equation of the distribution function G(R,L) of the end-to-end distance R, which is associated with the moment expansion of the latter. We present the results of the approximative treatment consisting of taking into account the second and fourth moments in the differential equation for G(R,L). The essential features of adsorption of the semiflexible polymer are (i) the existence of a new local length scale, which results in two-exponential decay of the monomer density of adsorbed polymer; (ii) the binding of the semiflexible polymer is weaker than that for the flexible one for both interface and wall. The approximative theory presented is restricted to the regime of weak adsorption, where the effect of the rodlike behavior of the polymer on small scales is weak.