End-Tethered Polymer Chains under a Membrane with Stickers: Blister and Surface Micelle Formation

Abstract

A system of end-grafted polymer chains in a good solvent is compressed under a membrane with freely moving stickers which favor the membrane sticking to the surface. For large enough degree of polymerization the membrane is predicted to form blisters, each confining multiple chains extending to form a surface micelle. Multiple chains compressed under a single bump or a blister reduce the free energies due to volume exclusion of the chains and the curvature of the membrane, at the expense of chain stretching energy. Show more