SEM Morphologies of a Water-Soluble Terpolymer with Vinyl Biphenyl in Aqueous and Brine Solutions

Abstract

A terpolymer PAAP, synthesized from acrylamide (AM), vinyl biphenyl (VP), and sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonate (NaAMPS), exhibits intermolecular hydrophobically associating behavior in water and aqueous brine solutions. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to observe the conformations of polymer chains and morphologies of their associating microstructures in pure water and in brine solutions. This was done to reveal the relevant relationships between solution properties and associated microstructures for the PAAP polymer in pure water and brine solutions, and the mechanisms for the previously reported viscoelastic behavior of PAAP solutions. Continuous supermolecular associating network structures are formed via strong intermolecular hydrophobic association of biphenyl groups in an aqueous 0.1 g⋅dL−1 PAAP solution, which leads to the excellent viscoelastic character of aqueous PAAP solutions. With increasing polymer concentration, the network structures of the polymer become much larger and more compact in aqueous solution, which results in the excellent thickening properties of their solutions. The SEM results reveal that the elongated conformations of molecular chains in aqueous PAAP solutions are favorable for intermolecular hydrophobic association. With the addition of NaCl, the associating network structures of PAAP are destroyed because of electrostatic shielding effects on the –\(\mathrm{SO}_{3}^{-}\) groups, and huge tree-like associated structures are formed. This results in a decrease in the solution viscosity and a loss of viscoelastic properties of PAAP solutions. However, with increasing NaCl concentration, the number and size of the aggregates increase, which results in the salt-thickening behavior of PAAP brine solutions.