| Abstract
| - Lattice Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to study the thermodynamics and structuresof linear chain molecules in solutions confined between two parallel plates of various widths over a widerange of concentrations. The results for the chemical potentials, anisotropic chain dimensions, andscattering structure factors are shown and compared with the scaling-law predictions by Daoud and deGennes [J. Phys. (Paris) 1977, 38, 85]. The transition from a 3D-like solution to a 2D-like solution isobserved in both dilute and semidilute regions when the confinement strength increases. In the dilutesolution limit, the transition is characterized by an expansion in the chain dimension along the slit walls.In the semidilute region, the transition from 2D dilute pancakes to 2D semidilute pancakes and finallyto 3D semidilute spheres with increasing concentration is observed in the dependence of the chaindimension on the concentration. This transition, however, is not clearly seen in the chemical potentials.The single chain structure factors of the confined chains exhibit 2D characteristics in the dilute solutionwith strong confinement but approach the Debye function in the 2D semidilute and 3D semidilutesolutions.
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