Statistical Mechanics of Chain Molecules at Interfaces

In the past few years, several closely related mean-field lattice theories have emerged to predict configurational and thermal properties of polymers at interfaces: in the bulk, adsorbed, in the semicrystalline interphase, in grafted chromatographic interphases, or in surfactant aggregates. In the present work we reformulate these approaches into a single, simpler treatment for bulk homopolymer interphases. We focus on the origin of the constraints and show the relationship to classical conformational theories for chains in the absence of interfaces, with particular attention to intrachain conformational energies and to the nature of the segment insertion process.