Abstract
The aim of this study is not only to investigate the feasibility of using PAH (polyallylamine hydrochloride) and PSS (poly styrene-4-sulfonic acid sodium salt) to prepare a film via a layer by layer self-assembly process entrained with silver nanoparticles, but also to show that the silver nanoparticles crystalline structure can be defined and deposited on the surface of the substrate in the desired alignment structure and manner, which is of great help to research on the LBL method in the cellulose field. The effect of outermost layer variation, assembly layers, and composition of multilayers on the formation of the LBL structure on a nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) substrate was investigated. The deposition of PAH and PSS was monitored by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The morphology of the LBL film layers was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). Furthermore, thermal degradation properties were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and physical properties of multilayer films were tested by a universal mechanical tester. The results reveal that PAH and PSS can be readily deposited on a NFC/PVA substrate by using LBL methodology to prepare self-assembled polyelectrolyte multilayer films. The surface morphology of the LBL composite changed from negative to positive charged depending on the final LBL treatment. Also, according to SEM and AFM analysis, silver nanoparticles were well dispersed in the (PAH/PSS) film, which significantly improved the thermal stability of the composite films.
Highlights
At present, clean water resources are important in our daily life
The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of controlling the silver nanoparticles crystalline structure and its ability to deposit on the surface of the substrate in the desired alignment structure and manner, which is of significant use for research on the LBL method in the cellulose field
The (PSS/PAH) polyelectrolyte composite membrane was prepared on the porous nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)
Summary
Clean water resources are important in our daily life. It was urgent to develop a pure water purification method, and membrane treatment technology came into being [1,2,3]. In the 1990s, researchers successfully applied LBL technology to form a film of 100 layers of alternating cationic and anionic polyelectrolytes on single-crystal silicon substrates [6]. This self-assembly methodology (LBL), which relies on the mechanism of strong intermolecular interactions (charge transfer interaction, electrostatic force, covalent bond interaction, hydrogen bonding, and so on) [7,8,9,10], has become one of the most frequently utilized processes for the preparation of functional multilayer films [11,12].
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