Regensburg 2007 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 12: Polymer Physics III: Interfaces

CPP 12.2: Talk

Tuesday, March 27, 2007, 10:15–10:30, H40

Polymer rings on structured surfaces — •Petra Gutjahr, Reinhard Lipowsky, and Jan Kierfeld — Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Science Park Golm, 14424 Potsdam, Germany

Semiflexible polymer rings such as circular DNA which are adsorbed onto chemically or topographically structured substrate surfaces, exhibit a variety of morphologies. A simple but instructive example is provided by a striped surface domain. Upon increasing the adhesive strength of the striped domain, we find a morphological transition from a round toroidal conformation dominated by bending energy to an elongated configuration, in which the polymer ring is confined to the adhesive stripe. We determine the complete bifurcation diagram of the polymer shapes as a function of their contour length and the ratio of adhesion contrast to bending rigidity. This diagram exhibits several metastable configurations of the semiflexible polymer rings. In addition, these rings can undergo an adhesion transition, at which they bind to the striped domain.