Understanding the non-uniform compression of polyelectrolyte multilayers.
We have recently developed a unique surface force style apparatus that allows direct measurements of the structure of polymer layers under compression using neutron reflection. We have used this setup to investigate polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) under compression. We could show very clearly that the mechanical properties of these layers depend very much on the final layer being the positively charged PAH or the negatively charged PSSA. Even more interesting was the observation that the PAH terminated layer was compressed in a very non-uniform way: compressed water was preferentially expelled from the inner part of the layer, while the outer part retained all its water. On the other hand, the PSSA terminated layer behaved very uniformly under compression. We propose to continue our investigation on this topic specifically to understand this non-uniform behaviour. For this we will investigate a PEM that takes up a much higher amount of water: the non-uniform compression will either be much more pronounced, or it will only show up when most of the water is pushed out of the layers. In addition we will look at the effect of ionic strength on the non-uniform behaviour.
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DE VOS Wiebe; ABBOTT Stephen; BARKER Robert; COSGROVE Terence; MEARS Laura; PRESCOTT Stuart and RICHARDSON Robert M.. (2012). Understanding the non-uniform compression of polyelectrolyte multilayers.. Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.9-11-1559
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