Neutron reflectometry study of swelling of polyelectrolyte multilayers in water vapors: Influence of charge density of the polycation

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftForschungsartikelBeigetragenBegutachtung

Beitragende

  • Ralf Köhler - , Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) (Autor:in)
  • Ingo Dönch - , Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Autor:in)
  • Patrick Ott - , Universität Potsdam (Autor:in)
  • André Laschewsky - , Universität Potsdam (Autor:in)
  • Andreas Fery - , Universität Bayreuth (Autor:in)
  • Rumen Krastev - , Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen (Autor:in)

Abstract

We studied the swelling of polyelectrolyte (PE) multilayers (PEM) in water (H23O) vapors. The PEM were made from polyanion poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) and polycation poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride)-N-methyl-N-vinylacetamide (pDADMAC-NMVA). While PSS is a fully charged polyanion, pDADMAC-NMVA is a random copolymer made of charged pDADMAC and uncharged NMVA monomer units. Variation of the relative amount of these two units allows for controlling the charge density of pDADMAC-NMVA. The degree ofswelling was studied as a function of the relative humidity in the experimental chamber (respectively water concentration in the gas phase) for PEM prepared from PSS and pDADMAC-NMVA with their different charge densities - 100%, 89% and 75%. The films were prepared by means of spraying technique and consisted of six PE couples-PSS/pDADMAC-NMVA. Neutron reflectometry was applied as main tool to observe the swelling process. The technique allows to obtain in a single experiment information about film thickness and amount of water in the film. The experiments were complemented with AFM measurements to obtain the thickness of the films. It was found that the film thickness increases when the charge density of the polycation decreases. The swelling of the PEM increases with the relative humidity andit depends onthe charge densityof pDADMAC-NMVA. The swelling behavioris 2-fold, splitting up ina charge dependent mode with relatively little volume increase, and a second mode with high volume expansion, which is independent from charge density of PEM. The "swelling transition" occurs for all samples at a relative humidity about 60% and a volume increase of ca. 20%. The results were interpreted according to the Flory-Huggins theory which assumes a phase separation in PEM network at higher water contents.

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Seiten (von - bis)11576-11585
Seitenumfang10
FachzeitschriftLangmuir
Jahrgang25
Ausgabenummer19
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 6 Okt. 2009
Peer-Review-StatusJa
Extern publiziertJa

Externe IDs

PubMed 19788217