2017/10/04 by Himadri S. Samanta, Mauro L. Mugnai, Samanta, Himadri S. +5
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Carbon Nanotubes in Composites #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1710.01436
openalex publication_date 2017/10/04 · openalex created_date 2017/10/20 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
We develop a theory to probe the effect of non-equilibrium fluctuation-induced forces on the size of a polymer confined between two horizontal thermally conductive plates subject to a constant temperature gradient, ∇ T. We assume that (a) the solvent is good and (b) the distance between the plates is large so that in the absence of a thermal gradient the polymer is a coil whose size scales with the number of monomers as Nν, with ν≈ 0.6. We predict that above a critical temperature gradient, ∇ Tc ∼ N-(5)/(4), favorable attractive monomer-monomer interaction due to Giant Casimir Force (GCF) overcomes the chain conformational entropy, resulting in a coil-globule transition. The long-ranged GCF-induced interactions between monomers, arising from thermal fluctuations in non-equilibrium steady state, depend on the thermodynamic properties of the fluid. Our predictions can be verified using light-scattering experiments with polymers, such as polystyrene or polyisoprene in organic solvents (neopentane) in which GCF is attractive.