Rachel Yerushalmi-Rozen

We have measured the forces between mica surfaces immersed in cyclopentane (CP) in the presence of linear (LPS) and cyclic polystyrene (CPS) chains of similar molecular weights, a few degrees above the Θ-point of the LPS/CP system: while LPS adsorbs (in accordance with earlier studies), CPS does not adsorb under the same conditions. This is likely to be due to differences in the thermodynamics induced by the different topologies of the two types of polystyrene chains.