Adsorption of “soft” spherical particles onto sinusoidally-corrugated substrates

Abstract

We utilize a Monte Carlo simulation scheme based on the bond fluctuation model to simulate settlement of “soft” adhesive particles onto sinusoidally-corrugated substrates. Particles are composed of a hard inner core with a “soft” adhesive shell made of surface-grafted polymer chains. These chains adhere to surface lattice sites via pair wise non-specific interactions acting between the substrate and the last two segments of the polymer grafts on the particle. This simulation scheme is aimed at comprehending single particle adsorption behavior to find the highest adhesion energy locations for given test surfaces and elucidate test surfaces that reduce adhesion energy. Parameters in this study are set by the particle, the substrate and an interaction parameter between the two. Particle parameters include core diameter (D), grafting density of polymer (σ) and length of grafted polymer (N). Substrate parameters include wavelength (λ) and amplitude (A). Our results show that the wavelength of substrate features plays a significant role in the settlement of single particle systems. At λ = D/2 we observe a minimum in the adhesion energy and at λ = D we observe a uniform settlement location of the particles. Increasing N leads to a reduction in the effectiveness of substrate topography to direct the settlement of individual particles into specific sites on the substrate.