Wetting by polymers of a liquid–liquid interface: Effects of short-range interactions and of chain stiffness

The behavior of both flexible and semiflexible polymers near a liquid–liquid interface is investigated with the aid of the self-consistent-field theory as developed by Scheutjens and Fleer. A ternary system (A/BN/C) is studied near the wetting transition. In a symmetric system, i.e., χAB=χBC=χ, a change in the interaction parameter χ introduces a wetting transition. The ratio of the interfacial width ξ of the binary A/C system and the coil size of the polymer determines the order of this transition. Beyond a certain chain length Nc (at fixed ξ) the wetting transition is of first order, whereas it is of second order for N