Figure 6.

(a) Frontal and top view of the possible final positions reached by the steered SDS molecule after the pushing process ending at z = ξ_max. θ and r are the SDS final spherical coordinates, and r_xy is the projection of r in the xy-plane. Defining θ_max as the maximum solid angle generated by cutting the NP with the plane z = ξ_max, adsorbed and unadsorbed SDS molecules are identified when θ < θ_max and θ > θ_max, respectively. (b) Polar plot of the steered SDS final positions including all processed trajectories. The total number of trajectories is grouped according to the NP coverage in colored circular sectors whose amplitude is related to the number of pushing trials. The radius of the polar plot indicates the final r_xy and intrinsically θ of steered SDS. Black and colored points stand for the unadsorbed and adsorbed molecules onto the NP surface, respectively. Red, green, and blue points identify the three sites of adsorption corresponding to three specific final spherical coordinates of the steered SDS molecule.