Abstract:
Polymers, which are attached to a membrane at one of their ends, exert an entropic pressure, which curves the membrane away from the polymers. It is shown that adsorption which arises from a short-ranged potential between the polymer and the membrane has a large influence on the curvature of the membrane, leading to a decrease of the entropically induced curvature. If one ignores the finite size of the anchor segment, the polymer-induced curvature does not change sign and vanishes in the limit of strong adsorption and a pure contact potential. If one includes the finite size of the anchor segment, the membrane bends towards the polymer for sufficiently strong adsorption.
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Received 20 October 2000
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Breidenich, M., Netz, R. & Lipowsky, R. Adsorption of polymers anchored to membranes. Eur. Phys. J. E 5, 403–414 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s101890170047
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s101890170047