Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Investigating Single Molecule Adhesion by Atomic Force Spectroscopy
Published on: February 27, 2015
Effect of attractions on the structure of polymer solutions confined between surfaces: a density functional approach
1Theoretical Chemistry Section, Chemistry Group, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400 085, India. chandra@barc.gov.in
Abstract:
A density functional theory is presented to study the effect of attractions on the structure of polymer solutions confined between surfaces. The polymer molecules have been modeled as a pearl necklace of freely jointed hard spheres and the solvent as hard spheres, both having Yukawa-type attractions and the mixture being confined between attractive Yukawa-type surfaces. The present theory treats the ideal gas free energy functional exactly and uses weighted density approximation for the hard chain and hard sphere contributions to the excess free energy functional. The attractive interactions are calculated using the direct correlation function obtained from the polymer reference interaction site model theory along with the mean spherical approximation closure. The theoretical predictions on the density profiles of the polymer and the solvent molecules are found to agree quite well with the Monte Carlo simulation results for varying densities, chain lengths, wall separations, and different sets of interaction potentials.
Related Concept Videos
Van der Waals Interactions
Noncovalent Attractions in Biomolecules
Four types of noncovalent interactions are hydrogen bonds, van der Waals forces, ionic bonds, and hydrophobic interactions.
Hydrogen bonding results from the electrostatic attraction of a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to a strong-electronegative atom like oxygen,...
Noncovalent Attractions in Biomolecules
Four types of noncovalent interactions are hydrogen bonds, van der Waals forces, ionic bonds, and hydrophobic interactions.
Hydrogen bonding results from the electrostatic attraction of a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to a strong-electronegative atom like oxygen,...
Determination of Molar Masses of Polymers II
Intermolecular Forces
Intermolecular Forces
