Andrey Milchev, Jaroslaw Paturej, Vakhtang G. Rostiashvili, Thomas A. Vilgis. Thermal Degradation of Adsorbed Bottle-brush Macromolecules: Molecular Dynamics Simulation
Description: The scission kinetics of bottle-brush molecules in solution and on an adhesive substrate is modeled by means of Molecular Dynamics simulation with Langevin thermostat. Our macromolecules comprise a long flexible polymer backbone with $L$ segments, consisting of breakable bonds, along with two side chains of length $N$, tethered to each segment of the backbone. In agreement with recent experiments and theoretical predictions, we find that bond cleavage is significantly enhanced on a strongly attractive substrate even though the chemical nature of the bonds remains thereby unchanged.