The role of surface topography in the self-assembly of polymeric surfactants

We propose a classical density functional theory model to study the self-assembly of polymeric surfactants on curved surfaces. We use this model to investigate the thermodynamics of phase separation of a binary mixture of size asymmetric miscible surfactants on cylindrical and spherical surfaces, an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soft matter 2023-03, Vol.19 (9), p.179-1719
Main Authors: Liu, Meng, Farrell, James D, Zhang, Xianren, Dobnikar, Jure, Angioletti-Uberti, Stefano
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Binary mixtures
Density functional theory
Pattern formation
Phase separation
Self-assembly
Surfactants
Topography
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Summary:We propose a classical density functional theory model to study the self-assembly of polymeric surfactants on curved surfaces. We use this model to investigate the thermodynamics of phase separation of a binary mixture of size asymmetric miscible surfactants on cylindrical and spherical surfaces, and observe that phase separation driven by size alone is thermodynamically unfavorable on both cylindrical and spherical surfaces. We use the theory, supplemented by dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations, to predict pattern formation on a non-uniform surface with regions of positive and negative curvature. Our results suggest potential ways to couple surface topography and polymeric surfactants to design surfaces coated with non-uniform patterns. We propose a classical density functional theory model to study the self-assembly of polymeric surfactants on curved surfaces.
ISSN:1744-683X
1744-6848
DOI:10.1039/d2sm01540d