Transfer of an adsorbed layer

Özet

A "donor" surface D carries an adsorbed, flexible polymer layer (in good solvent conditions). A colloidal particle A (radius R) is brought at a distance (D) from the donor, which is smaller than the thickness of the adsorbed layer. The affinity of the polymer A is stronger than the affinity for D. We discuss here (via scaling laws) a) the indentation process: down to what distance D o should we go to ensure that all the polymer chains will ultimately be transferred? b) the separation process, and in particular the total work W required for separation.