New evidence of the nonequilibrium nature of the "slow modes" of diffusion in polyelectrolyte solutions

The time-dependent behavior of the dissolution of polyelectrolyte powders in pure water and moderate ionic strength aqueous solvent was monitored by flowing dissolving material through an online filter, and then through a multiangle light scattering unit, a refractometer, and a capillary viscometer. When the polyelectrolytes were dissolved in solutions of moderate ionic strength, their dissolution behavior was similar to that of neutral polymers. When dissolved in pure water, however, there was consistently a small population of aggregates that appeared at the beginning of the dissolution process, which then rapidly diminished. For large pore filtration, the aggregates reached a final low level, and slowly disappeared over the span of many days, whereas for small pore filtration the aggregates disappeared completely over a scale of minutes. The real-time data, together with size exclusion chromatography analysis, shed light on previously unanswered questions concerning the nonequilibrium nature of this small population of polyelectrolyte aggregates in low ionic strength solutions, and its relation to the "extraordinary phase" of diffusion (or "slow modes"). Further evidence is also provided that both angular scattering maxima due to interpolyion correlations and the maximum of reduced viscosity vs polyion concentration ("electroviscous" effect) at low ionic strength are equilibrium properties that are unrelated to these aggregates.