Dynamical scaling of single chains on adsorbing substrates: Diffusion processes

We study the dynamics of tethered chains of length N on adsorbing surfaces, considering the dilute case; for this we use the bond fluctuation model and scaling concepts. In particular, we focus on the mean-square displacement of single monomers and of the center of mass of the chains. The characteristic time tau of the fluctuations of a free chain in a good solvent grows as tau similar to N-a, where the coefficient a obeys a=2 nu+1. We show that the same coefficient also holds at the critical point of adsorption. At intermediate time scales single monomers show subdiffusive behavior; this concurs with the behavior calculated from scaling arguments based on the dynamical exponent a. In the adsorbed state tau(perpendicular to), the time scale for the relaxation in the direction perpendicular to the surface, becomes independent of N; tau(perpendicular to) is then the relaxation time of an adsorption blob. In the direction parallel to the surface the motion is similar to that of a two-dimensional chain and is controlled by a time scale given by tau(parallel to)similar to N-2(2 nu)+1L(-2 Delta nu/nu), where nu(2) is the Flory exponent in two dimensions, nu is the Flory exponent in three dimensions, and Delta nu=nu(2)-nu. For the motion parallel to the surface we find dynamical scaling over a range of about four decades in time. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.