Statistical physics of confined and self-assembling wormlike polymers

受限和自组装蠕虫状聚合物的统计物理

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-03978
• 负责人: Chen, Jeff
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: University of Waterloo
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=762954
• 关键词: Statistical; physics; confined; self; assembling

Polymer physics is a crossdisciplinary research field involving physics, chemistry, biology, and materials science. It studies physical systems that are composed of linear or linearly branched molecules, which comprise our biological systems and plastic materials. Founded by pioneers such as Nobel Prize Laureate Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, polymer theory is a field that has seen vast new developments in the last half century, in both fundamental and applied research.     This proposal presents a focused theoretical study of confined and self-assembling semiflexible polymers. The main theoretical model for a polymer is a mathematical description of a wormlike chain, which fluctuates its shape in a free space. The study fits into a much broader research theme of building a complete physical picture of wormlike polymers in a variety of physical conditions (solution, interface, confinement, melt, formation of liquid crystal states, mesoscopic self-assembly in melts, defect states, etc.), covering a few topic areas in soft condensed matter. In our theoretical treatment, a common ground is the use of statistical physics and field theory to study these systems. Some highlights include: unravelling the packing structure of confined DNA molecules, understanding the role of chain flexibility in liquid-crystal type ordered structures, and predicting the morphologies of self-assembled structures composed of semiflexible polymers in materials design. The exciting discoveries based on this proposal will significantly advance the fundamental understanding of soft matter --- a playground for constructing the new materials of tomorrow.     Over the last 10 years, my research group has developed cutting edge theoretical tools that can be readily exploited to study these problems. They include: the self-consistent field theory of wormlike polymer chains and numerical algorithms needed to solve this theory in a high-performance computing environment. By its explicit design, this multifaceted research program is ideally suited for training Master's and Doctoral graduate students, as well as Postdoctoral Fellows. The research problems will intellectually challenge these trainees in their pathways to make substantial impact in academic and industrial research.

聚合物物理学是一个跨学科研究领域，涉及物理，化学，生物学和材料科学。它研究由线性或线性分支分子组成的物理系统，其中包括我们的生物系统和塑料材料。聚合物理论是由诺贝尔奖获得者皮埃尔·吉尔斯·德·格林斯（Pierre-Gilles de Gennes）等先驱者创立的，这是一个在过去半个世纪的新发展，无论是在基本和应用研究中。     该提案提出了一项重点的理论研究，对被约束和自组装的半融合聚合物。聚合物的主要理论模型是对蠕虫状链的数学描述，它在自由空间中波动。该研究符合更广泛的研究主题，即在各种物理条件下构建蠕虫状聚合物的完整物理图片（解决方案，界面，限制，熔体，形成，液晶状态，介观熔体，缺陷状态等），涵盖软凝结的一些主题区域。在我们的理论处理中，一个共同的基础是使用统计物理学和现场理论来研究这些系统。一些亮点包括：阐明受限DNA分子的填料结构，了解链柔韧性在液晶型有序结构中的作用，并预测由半粘合聚合物在材料设计中组成的自组装结构的形态。基于此提案的令人兴奋的发现将大大提高对软物质的基本理解，这是建造明天新材料的操场。在过去的十年中，我的研究小组开发了尖端的理论工具，可以很容易地探索来研究这些问题。它们包括：在高性能计算环境中解决该理论所需的蠕虫状聚合物链和数值算法的自洽场理论。根据其明确的设计，该多面研究计划非常适合培训硕士和博士研究生以及博士后研究员。研究问题将明智地挑战这些受训者的途径，以在学术和工业研究中产生重大影响。