Kalyuzhnyi O, Ilnytskyi J M, Holovatch Yu, von Ferber C
Institute for Condensed Matter Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, UA-79011 Lviv, Ukraine. L4 Collaboration & Doctoral College for the Statistical Physics of Complex Systems, Leipzig-Lorraine-Lviv-Coventry, D-04009 Leipzig, Germany.
J Phys Condens Matter. 2018 May 31;30(21):215101. doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/aabc16. Epub 2018 Apr 6.
In this paper we study the shape characteristics of star-like polymers in various solvent quality using a mesoscopic level of modeling. The dissipative particle dynamics simulations are performed for the homogeneous and four different heterogeneous star polymers with the same molecular weight. We analyse the gyration radius and asphericity at the poor, good and θ-solvent regimes. Detailed explanation based on interplay between enthalpic and entropic contributions to the free energy and analyses on of the asphericity of individual branches are provided to explain the increase of the apsphericity in θ-solvent regime.
