Thermal Roughening and Deroughening at Polymer Interfaces in Electrophoretic Deposition

Abstract

Thermal scaling and relaxation of the interface width in an electrophoretic deposition of polymer chains is examined by a three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulation on a discrete lattice. Variation of the equilibrium interface width $W_r$ with the temperature $T$ shows deroughening $W_r \propto T^{-δ}$, with $δ\sim 1/4$, at low temperatures and roughening $W_r \propto T^ν$, with $ν\sim 0.4$ at high temperatures. The roughening-deroughening transition temperature $T_t$ increases with longer chain lengths and is reduced by using the slower segmental dynamics.