Phase Behavior of Polydisperse Y-Shaped Polymer Brushes under Good Solvent Conditions

Abstract

Y-shaped polymer brushes represent a special class of binary mixed polymer brushes, in which a combination of different homopolymers leads to unique phase behavior. While most theoretical and simulation studies use monodisperse models, experimental systems are always polydisperse. This discrepancy hampers linking theoretical and experimental results. In this theoretical study, we employed dissipative particle dynamics to study the influence of polydispersity on the phase behavior of Y-shaped brushes grafted to flat surfaces under good solvent conditions. Polydispersity was kept within experimentally achievable values and was modeled via Schulz–Zimm distribution. In total, 10 systems were considered, thus covering the phase behavior of monodisperse, partially polydisperse and fully polydisperse systems. Using such generic representation of real polymers, we observed a rippled structure and aggregates in monodisperse systems. In addition, polydisperse brushes formed a stable perforated layer not observed previously in monodisperse studies, and influenced the stability of the remaining phases. Although the perforated layer was experimentally observed under good solvent conditions and in the melt state, further confirmation of its presence in systems under good solvent conditions required mapping real polymers onto mesoscale models that reflected, for example, different polymer rigidity, and excluded volume effects or direct influence of the surface, just to mention a few parameters. Finally, in this work, we show that mesoscale modeling successfully describes polydisperse models, which opens the way for rapid exploring of complex systems such as polydisperse Y-shaped brushes in selective or bad solvents or under non-equilibrium conditions.