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Polymers
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Progress in Theory of Polymers at Interfaces
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Progress in Theory of Polymers at Interfaces (Closed)

A topical collection in Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This collection belongs to the section "Polymer Physics and Theory".

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Editors

Prof. Dr. Jens-Uwe Sommer

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Guest Editor
Leibniz-Institut fur Polymerforschung Dresden e.V., Institute Theory of Polymers, Dresden, Germany
Interests: Theoretical Polymer and Biopolymer Physics; computer simulations in soft matter; Statistical Physics; polymers at interfaces; polymer networks; polymer solutions; polymer crystallization; polymers and nanoparticles
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Martin Kröger

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Polymer Physics, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Leopold-Ruzicka-Weg 4, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
Interests: polymer physics; computational physics; applied mathematics; stochastic differential equations; coarse-graining; biophysics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Topical Collection Information

Dear Colleagues,

Macromolecules in the vicinity of interfaces, adsorbed, attached, or depleted from surfaces, subject to confinement, or as part of self-assembled structures, nanocomposites, or multiphase systems often exhibit properties that make them differ significantly from their bulk counterparts. Adsorbed and grafted polymers change the effective surfaces and interface properties significantly and lead to new properties, such as switchable surfaces and exceptional tribological and crystallization behavior. The conformation properties and phase transitions of polymers are strongly affected by the presence of one or more phase boundaries, and many of the resulting problems of statistical physics are not yet resolved, despite the fact that polymers at surfaces and interfaces play an integral part in polymer physics research and education today. There are a number of fundamental results for the adsorption and interface localization of flexible and semiflexible chains, polymers under confinement, and for the properties of adsorbed and grafted polymer layers. However, many important questions remain, and new problems emerge in the context of polymer/biological interfaces, the influence of monomer sequences in copolymers, depletion, tack and friction effects, or multicomponent solutions in contact with surfaces and interfaces.

This Topic Collection is concerned with the statics and dynamics, theory and simulation of polymers at interfaces and surfaces, including systems and phenomena listed below, in both equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium situations. The collection may thus also address polymers at interfaces subjected to flow, external stimuli, or fields. New methods to model polymers at interfaces can be reported as well. Ideally, contributions focus on fundamental results, theory developments, models, mechanisms, algorithms, statistical physics, conformational statistics, and/or applications that will help to compile the current state of the art and to highlight the range of application of polymers at interfaces.

Prof. Dr. Jens-Uwe Sommer
Prof. Dr. Martin Kröger
Collection Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the collection website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • interface-induced phase transitions
  • brushes
  • films
  • pores
  • confined geometries
  • nanocomposites
  • coatings
  • adsorption
  • chemisorption
  • translocation
  • depletion
  • wetting
  • crystallization
  • wear
  • friction
  • scaling behavior
  • field theories
  • conformational statistics
  • statistical polymer physics
  • kinetic theory
  • computer simulation

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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2023

28 pages, 13650 KiB  
Article
Globular Proteins and Where to Find Them within a Polymer Brush—A Case Study
by Aikaterini A. Galata and Martin Kröger
Polymers 2023, 15(10), 2407; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15102407 - 22 May 2023
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Abstract
Protein adsorption by polymerized surfaces is an interdisciplinary topic that has been approached in many ways, leading to a plethora of theoretical, numerical and experimental insight. There is a wide variety of models trying to accurately capture the essence of adsorption and its [...] Read more.
Protein adsorption by polymerized surfaces is an interdisciplinary topic that has been approached in many ways, leading to a plethora of theoretical, numerical and experimental insight. There is a wide variety of models trying to accurately capture the essence of adsorption and its effect on the conformations of proteins and polymers. However, atomistic simulations are case-specific and computationally demanding. Here, we explore universal aspects of the dynamics of protein adsorption through a coarse-grained (CG) model, that allows us to explore the effects of various design parameters. To this end, we adopt the hydrophobic-polar (HP) model for proteins, place them uniformly at the upper bound of a CG polymer brush whose multibead-spring chains are tethered to a solid implicit wall. We find that the most crucial factor affecting the adsorption efficiency appears to be the polymer grafting density, while the size of the protein and its hydrophobicity ratio come also into play. We discuss the roles of ligands and attractive tethering surfaces to the primary adsorption as well as secondary and ternary adsorption in the presence of attractive (towards the hydrophilic part of the protein) beads along varying spots of the backbone of the polymer chains. The percentage and rate of adsorption, density profiles and the shapes of the proteins, alongside with the respective potential of mean force are recorded to compare the various scenarios during protein adsorption. Full article
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14 pages, 6512 KiB  
Article
Degradation Behaviors and Mechanism of Nitrile Butadiene Rubber Caused by Insulating Medium C5F10O
by Congdong She, Fuping Zeng, Liangjun Dai, Long Li, Qiang Yao and Ju Tang
Polymers 2023, 15(10), 2282; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15102282 - 12 May 2023
Viewed by 1664
Abstract
C5F10O is a promising insulating medium in the manufacturing of environmentally friendly gas-insulated switchgears (GISs). The fact that it is not known whether it is compatible with sealing materials used in GISs limits its application. In this paper, the [...] Read more.
C5F10O is a promising insulating medium in the manufacturing of environmentally friendly gas-insulated switchgears (GISs). The fact that it is not known whether it is compatible with sealing materials used in GISs limits its application. In this paper, the deterioration behaviors and mechanism of nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) after prolonged exposure to C5F10O are studied. The influence of C5F10O/N2 mixture on the deterioration process of NBR is analyzed through a thermal accelerated ageing experiment. The interaction mechanism between C5F10O and NBR is considered based on microscopic detection and density functional theory. Subsequently, the effect of this interaction on the elasticity of NBR is calculated through molecular dynamics simulations. According to the results, the polymer chain of NBR can slowly react with C5F10O, leading to deterioration of its surface elasticity and loss of inside additives, mainly ZnO and CaCO3. This consequently reduces the compression modulus of NBR. The interaction is related to CF3 radicals formed by the primary decomposition of C5F10O. The molecular structure of NBR will be changed in the molecular dynamics simulations due to the addition reaction with CF3 on NBR’s backbone or branched chains, resulting in changes in Lame constants and a decrease in elastic parameters. Full article
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