Chain Statistics in Adsorbed Polymer Solutions

International audienceWe study polymers adsorbing onto a solid surface from semi-dilute solutions. Within a mean-field theory we calculate the propagator of one chain that gives the probability that the chain starting at a distance z from the adsorbing wall has monomer n at a distance z'. We then derive the concentration of adsorbed chains (chains touching the surface at least once), the adsorbance that gives the total number of adsorbed chains, and the concentration of chain end points. The propagator also allows the calculation of the statistics of one chain, such as the probability of forming q loops or the number of monomers in a tail. Scaling results are obtained in a good solvent by renormalizing the monomers to concentration blobs