Behavior of Weak Polyelectrolyte Brushes in Mixed Salt Solutions

Macromolecules
Joshua D WillottWiebe M de Vos

Abstract

Hydrophilic and hydrophobic weak polybasic brushes immersed in aqueous solutions of mixed salt counterions are considered using a mean-field numerical self-consistent field approach. On top of the solvent quality of the polymer, the counterion-solvent interactions are accounted for by implementing Flory-Huggins interaction parameters. We show that ion specificity within the brush can bring about large changes in conformation. It is found that the collapse transition of hydrophobic, weak polyelectrolyte brushes features an intermediate two-phase state wherein a subset of chains are collapsed in a dense layer at the substrate, while the remainder of chains are well-solvated and strongly stretched away from the it. Besides pH and ionic strength, solvent quality of counterions and the composition of ions in the solvent are important control parameters for the behavior of polyelectrolyte brushes. Increasingly hydrophobic counterions penetrate deeper within the brush and stabilize the collapsed region, while hydrophilic counterions do the opposite.

References

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Citations

Apr 10, 2019·Polymers·Vikramjit S RatheeJonathan K Whitmer
Sep 18, 2020·Chemical Communications : Chem Comm·Jian ZhangGuangming Liu
Dec 12, 2020·Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids·Patricia FlemmingPetra Uhlmann
Jan 22, 2019·Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids·Joshua D WillottWiebe M de Vos
Oct 28, 2020·Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids·Edwin C JohnsonErica J Wanless

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
neutron reflectometry
QCM-D

Software Mentioned

SFbox

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