Abstract
Telechelic polymer chains, having a strongly adsorbing group on each end, can induce attractions between surfaces to which the end groups adsorb by forming bridges spanning the two surfaces. However, such chains may also adsorb on a single surface, forming a 'brush of stretched loops; this leads to repulsive interactions between surfaces, as the brushes resist compression and overlap. We show that bridging leads to a weak attractive minimum in the interaction energy between parallel surfaces of strength 1.0 X T(R/h)* per chain (where R is the free radius of a chain and h is the height of an isolated brush) for two brushes just in contact. We explore the consequences of this attraction for colloid stability, experimente using the surface forces apparatus, and telechelic chains in melt conditions including multiblock lamellar phases.
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