Multi-particle collision dynamics for a coarse-grained model of soft colloids applied to ring polymers

Abstract

The simulation of polymer solutions often requires the development of methods that accurately include hydrodynamic interactions. Resolution on the atomistic scale is too computationally expensive to cover mesoscopic time and length scales on which the interesting polymer phenomena are observed. Therefore, coarse-graining methods have to be applied. In this work, the solvent is simulated using the well-established multi-particle collision dynamics scheme, and for the polymer, different coarse-graining methods are employed and compared against the monomer resolved Kremer–Grest model by their resulting diffusion coefficients. This research builds on previous work [Ruiz-Franco et al., J. Chem. Phys. 151, 074902 (2019)], in which star polymers and linear chains in a solvent were simulated and two different coarse-graining methods were developed, in order to increase computational efficiency. The present work extends this approach to ring polymers and seeks to refine one of the authors’ proposed model: the penetrable soft colloid model. It was found that both proposed models are not well suited to ring polymers; however, the introduction of a factor to the PSC model delivers satisfying results for the diffusion behavior by regulating the interaction intensity with the solvent.