When a long, semi-flexible polymer is adsorbed onto an adhesive surface, its bending
undulations on small scales act to renormalize the interaction potential between
the polymer and the surface. As a result, the polymer undergoes an unbinding
or desorption
transition as one increases the temperature or decreases the magnitude of the
attractive polymer/surface interaction
[1].
This transition is second order if the interaction potential is independent of
the local polymer orientation, but first order if it is orientation-dependent
[2].
All critical exponents related to these desorption transitions can be obtained
via duality relations from a single exponent characterizing the shape fluctuations of the
unbound polymer
[3].
Some semi-flexible polymers such as bacterial DNA form closed rings. When
adsorbed onto topographically or chemically structured surfaces, such polymers attain
a variety of different shapes,
which reflect the competition between the polymers' bending stiffness and the
polymer/surface interactions
[4,
5].
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J. Kierfeld, K. Baczynski, P. Gutjahr, T. Kühne, and R. Lipowsky
Modelling semiflexible polymers: Shape analysis,
buckling instabilities, and force generation.
Soft Matter 6, 5764-5769 (2010).
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P. Gutjahr, R. Lipowsky, and J. Kierfeld
Semiflexible polymer rings on topographically and chemically
structured surfaces.
Soft Matter 6, 5461-5475 (2010).
-
P. Kraikivski, R. Lipowsky and J. Kierfeld
Activated dynamics of semiflexible polymers on structured substrates.
Eur. Phys. J. E 16, 319-340, (2005) .
-
P. Kraikivski, R. Lipowsky and J. Kierfeld
Point force manipulation and activated dynamics of polymers adsorbed on
structured substrates.
Europhys. Lett. 71, 138 - 144 (2005).
-
J. Kierfeld and R. Lipowsky
Duality mapping and unbinding transitions of semiflexible and directed polymers.
J. Phys. A: Math. Gen., 38, L155-L161, (2005) .
-
P. Kraikivski, R. Lipowsky and J. Kierfeld
Barrier crossing of semiflexible polymers.
Europhys. Lett. 66, 763-769, (2004) .
-
J. Kierfeld and R. Lipowsky
Unbundling and desorption of semiflexible polymers.
Europhys. Lett. 62, 285-291 (2003).
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R. Lipowsky.
Parabolic renormalization group flow for interfaces and membranes.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 62 , 704-706 (1989).
