Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol.116, No.34, 10379-10386, 2012
Ground-State Properties of a Polymer Chain in an Attractive Sphere
We analyze the structural formation of a polymer chain inside of an attractive sphere depending on the attraction strength. Our model is composed of a coarse-grained polymer and an attractive sphere potential. Within this frame, multicanonical Monte Carlo simulations are employed to identify the global minimum energies for a polymer chain interacting with the attractive inner wall of the sphere. Different compact structures are found with varying attraction strengths, among which are spherical, three/two, or monolayer. The conformational properties of these structures are presented.