COIL GLOBULE TYPE TRANSITIONS IN POLYMERS .1. COLLAPSE OF LAYERS OF GRAFTED POLYMER-CHAINS

The mean-field analytical theory describing the conformational transition related to the collapse of the layers of polymer chains grafted onto the impermeable surfaces of different morphologies (a planar surface, a sphere, and a cylinder) has been developed. The dependence of the character of this transition on the type of the surface morphology is analyzed. It is shown that in the case of a planar surface this transition is not a true thermodynamic phase transition. The structural rearrangement of the layers accompanying their collapse is investigated. The most precise analysis was carried out for the case of a planar layer. It is shown that in contrast to the blob picture the planar layer is inhomogeneous as a whole at any solvent strength. Analytical expressions describing the distribution of monomer units density and chain ends along the layer height at arbitrary solvent strength are obtained.