IRREVERSIBLE POLYMER ADSORPTION FROM SEMIDILUTE AND MODERATELY DENSE SOLUTIONS

We present results from a Monte Carlo study of polymer adsorption from solution at a solid-liquid interface, in the limit of infinitely large adsorption energy. We study the kinetics of adsorbed layer formation for both the cases of end-functionalized chains and homopolymers. In the former case, the adsorbed layer is found to be in the ''brush'' regime described by Milner, Witten, and Cates [Macromolecules 21, 2610 (1988)], and its growth is consistent with the formation of an activation barrier, as predicted by Ligoure and Leibler [J. Phys. (Paris) 51, 1313 (1990)]. In the latter case, the resulting ''pancake'' layer is analyzed in terms of loop, train, and tail distributions. The results are compared with recent scaling arguments proposed by Guiselin [Europhys. Lett. 17, 225 (1992)].