Effect of incompressibility on lateral instabilities of polymer brushes in a poor solvent

We report a theoretical investigation of the lateral instability of grafted polymer layers in a poor solvent. Within self-consistent mean-field theory, we carry out a linear stability analysis at the random phase approximation level, for which an explicit incompressibility condition is enforced. Our analysis predicts a stability diagram in which regions of stable and unstable polymer brush profiles are located. Compared with analysis when incompressibility is not taken into account, our results suggest that lateral stability is enhanced.