In this paper, the authors investigate the surface adsorption of tadpole-shaped polymers, consisting of a semiflexible ring and a rigid rod-like tail. The tadpoles are functionalized in such a way that either the tail or ring are able to attach to a planar surface (hence the name Janus).  Due to their directed adsorption capability, these polymers create unexpected patterns both on the adsorption surface and in the vicinity of it, where they build a polymeric brush.  The organization of both the adsorbed phase and the polymeric brush can be controlled by changing the flexibility of the polymer ring since two phases mutually influence each other. This leads to a variety of phenomena such as nematic ordering of the adsorbed stiff tadpole tails and intriguing changes in the territoriality of adsorbed ring polymers on the surface.

Publication: Benedikt Vitecek, Christos N. Likos, and Ioana C. Gârlea, Adsorption characteristics of Janus tadpole polymers, The Journal of Chemical Physics 160, 224902 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0213433

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