Excluded volume effects between two adsorbed polymers: a Monte Carlo Study

Abstract

A Monte Carlo method is used to study the interpolymer effect of excluded volume for polymers adsorbed at an interface as modelled by self-avoiding walks attached to a plane surface. Data are obtained for the second virial coefficient of the spreading pressure of the adsorbed layer and for the effective potential between a pair of walks in both the weak (three-dimensional) and strong (two-dimensional) adsorption limits. These data form the basis for a discussion of the validity of the strong scaling hypothesis and the question of interpenetration of one walk by another.