Abstract
Optical tweezers are employed to measure the forces of interaction within single pairs of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) grafted colloids with an extraordinary resolution of ±0.5pN. Parameters varied are the concentration and valency of the counterions (KCl, CaCl2) of the surrounding medium as well as its pH. The data are quantitatively described by a recently published model of Jusufi et al. [Colloid Polym Sci 2004; 282:910] for spherical polyelectrolyte brushes which takes into account the entropic effect of the counterions. For the scaling of the brush height a power law is found having an exponent of 0.25±0.02 which ranges between the values expected for spherical and planar brushes. From the model the ionic concentration inside the brush is estimated in reasonable agreement with the literature.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
