Orientational wetting layer of semiflexible polymers near a hard wall

Abstract

The structure of the orientational wetting layer of semiflexible polymers in the vicinity of a hard-wall surface is investigated based on an inhomogeneous free energy functional. A mean-field approximation is used for the system of semiflexible polymers obeying the Saito-Takahashi-Yunoki description and interacting via repulsive interaction of the Onsager type. The distribution function of the polymers near the hard wall is computed by using a spherical-harmonic expansion. A surface phase transition from a uniaxial phase to a partial wetting, biaxial state is shown to exist before a second-order wetting phase transition to a complete wetting nematic phase.