Lateral Instabilities in a Grafted Layer in a Poor Solvent

The effect of solvent quality on a layer of end-grafted polymers is determined using the random phase approximation combined with a numerical mean field analysis. For sufficiently poor solvents, the laterally homogeneous grafted layer is linearly unstable to fluctuations tangential to the grafting plane. In the unstable regime, the grafted layer forms a “dimpled” surface in which the depth and separation of the dimples depend on chain length, solvent quality, and grafting density.