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 kati@ipc.bas.bg
(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
