MONTE-CARLO SIMULATION OF CHAIN MOLECULE ADSORPTION ON A LINE DEFECT

Surface roughness, lattice defects, and surface chemical composition may all affect the adsorption behavior and the adsorbed configurations of polymers. We have performed Monte Carlo computer simulations to study the effect of line defects on otherwise homogeneous flat surfaces on chain molecule adsorption. A chain of 20 monomers adsorbs to a flat surface at monomer-surface interaction energies of about 1 kT, and selective adsorption to a line defect occurs at a ratio of line to surface energy of 6.5. The nonuniform adsorption of polymers on surfaces with heterogeneous interaction energies has implications for the selective adsorption of polymers on patterned surfaces and the interpretation of microscopy images.