Organization of poly(ethylene oxide) monolayers at the air-water interface

Abstract

Poly(ethylene oxide) has been spread at the air-water interface and the organization of the layer investigated using surface pressure isotherms and neutron reflectometry. Surface pressure data lead to the conclusion that the spread polymer is in a thermodynamically favorable environment on pure water which becomes worse as MgSO 4 is added to the aqueous subphase. However, θ conditions have not been realized over the range of MgSO 4 molarities used (0.4-0.8 M). Neutron reflectometry data have been analyzed using both optical matrix and kinematic approximation methods