Volume-fraction profiles of adsorbed polymers

Abstract

The structure of adsorbed polymer layers has been studied extensively, both experimentally and theoretically, in a diverse range of systems. Although the form of the volume-fraction profile of polymer segments, normal to the interface has been predicted in detail from theory, few experimental methods can probe more than the first or second moments of this distribution. In this paper, the role of neutron scattering and magnetic resonance in such studies is surveyed. The results of these studies are compared with various theoretical models. The picture of the adsorbed layer that emerges is one that shows a strong dependence on the structure of the polymer, and the interactions between polymer segments, the interface and solvent(s).