Electrophoretic deposition of polymer chains on an adsorbing surface in (2+1) dimensions: Conformational anisotropy and nonuniversal coverage

Electrophoretic deposition of polymer chains flowing in a (2 + 1)-dimensional system is studied by computer simulations. Steady-state surface coverage (theta(j)) is found to decay with the chain's length, i.e., theta(j) similar to L-c(-alpha) with a nonuniversal exponent alpha similar or equal to 0.0-0.9 depending on the magnitude of driving field and temperature. Conformational crossover occurs for chains from a surface or wall to an adjacent bulk region with different scaling exponents for their longitudinal and transverse spread.