Surface phase transitions of polymer solutions: A mean-field study

Polymer solutions adjacent to solid substrates play a fundamental role in a wide range of polymeric systems, such as colloidal suspensions and biomolecular condensates, yet the understanding of the surface phase behaviors of polymer solutions, particularly in poor solvents, remains far from complete. In this work, by using a grand-canonical self-consistent field theory, we systematically examine the surface phase behaviors of a homopolymer solution in poor solvents near a single impenetrable sur