Eur. Phys. J. E 7, 65-71 (2002)
DOI: 10.1140/epje/i200101124
Drift of a polymer chain in a porous medium -A Monte Carlo study
K. Avramova and A. MilchevInstitute for Physical Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, G. Bonchev Str., Block 11, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Received 20 August 2001 and Received in final form 19 November 2001)
Abstract
We investigate the drift of an end-labeled telehelic polymer chain in a
frozen disordered medium under the action of a constant force applied to the
one end of the macromolecule by means of an off-lattice bead spring Monte
Carlo model. The length of the polymers
N is varied in the range
8<N<128, and the obstacle concentration in the medium
C
is varied from zero up to the percolation threshold
. For field
intensities below a
C-dependent critical field strength
, where
jamming effects become dominant, we find that the conformational properties
of the drifting chains can be interpreted as described by a scaling theory
based on Pincus blobs. The variation of drag velocity with
C in this
interval of field intensities is qualitatively described by the law of
Mackie-Meares. The threshold field intensity
itself is found to
decrease linearly with
C.
36.20.-r - Macromolecules and polymer molecules.
36.20.Ey - Conformation (statistics and dynamics).
82.45.-h - Electrochemistry and electrophoresis.
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2002
