SELF-CONSISTENT FIELD-THEORIES FOR POLYMER BRUSHES - LATTICE CALCULATIONS AND AN ASYMPTOTIC ANALYTICAL DESCRIPTION

In this paper we compare two models for calculating the configuration of grafted polymer chains at a solid-liquid interface. The first model is the self-consistent field (SCF) polymer adsorption theory of Scheutjens and Fleer as extended for end-attached chains. In this approach the equilibrium distribution of the polymer is found by averaging the statistical weights of all possible chain conformations that can be generated on a lattice. The second model is an analytical SCF theory developed independently by Zhulina, Borisov, and Priamitsyn and by Milner, Witten, and Cates which predicts the grafted layer structure in the case of strong chain stretching. A comparison is made between the results of both theories, and the deviations are explained from the assumptions made in the less exact analytical theory.