Random Sequential Adsorption on mobile patches

Abstract: An extension of the Random Sequential Adsorption (RSA) model has been proposed recently, motivated by the coverage of oil droplets by DNA-functionalized colloidal particles. Particles arrive to a flat substrate with a uniform flux F but they can only adsorb on patches. Patches diffuse on the substrate with a diffusion coefficient D if they are free and they remain immobile when attached to an adsorbed particle. The adsorption is considered irreversible and particles cannot adsorb on top of each other. Thus, the system reaches a jammed state, consisting of a monolayer where no more particles can adsorb. We performed Monte Carlo simulations to study the adsorption kinetics and jammed-state morphology on a one-dimensional lattice. We show that, while the time-dependence of the coverage depends on F and D, the jammed-state coverage depends solely on the ratio F/D. This result is grasped by a simple mean-field calculation. We also report two different regimes for the functional dependence of the jammed-state coverage on the size of the particles, for low and high density of patches.