Simulation of a simple model for aggregating telechelic ionomers

We develop a simple model for the aggregation of telechelic ionomers by extending the well-known algorithm for particle diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA). The distribution of sticky and nonsticky regions of the polymer and specific rules for binding are incorporated. Thirteen aggregates are grown to a final size of 2441 polymers each. The distribution of accessible binding sites modifies the growth of these clusters as compared with DLA. The dynamical dimension estimated from the growth of the radius of gyration is found to have a value of 1.81 ± 0.04, significantly larger than values reported for particle DLA. However, a careful analysis of our data suggests that the dimension is nonstationary and decreasing at the largest cluster sizes attained. We have also investigated the scaling of the average mass of the cluster interface with the number of polymers and the radius of gyration. Our results suggest that the fractal dimension of the cluster interface is close to one, in agreement with previously reported findings for particle DLA.