Van der Waals Interactions with Soft Interfaces

Authors

Charles B. Hanna, Boise State UniversityFollow
D. A. Pink, St. Francis Xavier University
B. E. Quinn, St. Francis Xavier University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-15-2006

Abstract

Many naturally occurring microbiological and synthetic polymer systems have soft interfaces due, e.g., to the presence of polymer brushes at the surfaces. The initial interactions (before contact) in such systems are typically physical rather than chemical in origin, e.g. electrostatic or van der Waals forces. We calculate the form of the summed van der Waals interaction energies U_HS and U_SS between two bulk systems separated by a distance D, when one (U_HS) or both (U_SS) of their surfaces are soft. We find that the summed interactions diverge weakly as , U_HS~−1/D, and comment upon the applicability of these results.

Publication Information

Hanna, Charles B.; Pink, D. A.; and Quinn, B. E.. (2006). "Van der Waals Interactions with Soft Interfaces". Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 18(35), 8129-8137. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/18/35/001