3D solid supported inter-polyelectrolyte complexes obtained by the alternate deposition of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate).

Eduardo Guzmán,Ramón G Rubio,Armando Maestro,Francisco Ortega,Jesús Álvarez-Rodríguez,Ángel Maroto-Valiente,Sara Llamas

doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.18

Abstract

This work addresses the formation and the internal morphology of polyelectrolyte layers obtained by the layer-by-layer method. A multimodal characterization showed the absence of stratification of the films formed by the alternate deposition of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate). Indeed the final organization might be regarded as three-dimensional solid-supported inter-polyelectrolyte films. The growth mechanism of the multilayers, followed using a quartz crystal microbalance, evidences two different growth trends, which show a dependency on the ionic strength due to its influence onto the polymer conformation. The hydration state does not modify the multilayer growth, but it contributes to the total adsorbed mass of the film. The water associated with the polyelectrolyte films leads to their swelling and plastification. The use of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has allowed for deeper insights on the internal structure and composition of the polyelectrolyte multilayers.

Highlights

The new requirements of science and technology have created an increasing interest for the fabrication of materials with reduced dimensionality for their application in several fields, including optics, electronics, coatings and biomaterials
The growth of polyelectrolyte multilayers of (PDADMAC + poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS))N was followed by monitoring the frequency shift (Δf) of the QCM-D normalized by the overtone number (ν), −Δf/ν, as a function of the number of bilayers (N) [19,29]
The release of counterions strongly increases the entropic contribution to the adsorption process. This makes the charge compensation by the ionic pairing between polyelectrolytes in adjacent layers more favorable than the compensation through condensation of counterions

Summary

Introduction

The new requirements of science and technology have created an increasing interest for the fabrication of materials with reduced dimensionality for their application in several fields, including optics, electronics, coatings and biomaterials (drug delivery and tissue engineering). This work studies polyelectrolyte multilayers formed by poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) from solutions of different ionic strength [19,20,21,22].

Results

Conclusion