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Preparation and Friction Force Microscopy Measurements of Immiscible, Opposing Polymer Brushes
Published on: December 24, 2014
Do spherical polyelectrolyte brushes interdigitate?
A V Korobko1, W Jesse, S U Egelhaaf
1Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
The structure of spherical micelles of the diblock copolymer poly(styrene-block-acrylic acid) in water was investigated with small angle neutron scattering and contrast matching. We have monitored intermicelle correlation and the extension of the polyelectrolyte chains in the coronal layer through the overlap concentration. Irrespective of ionic strength, the corona shrinks with increasing packing fraction. Furthermore, at high charge and minimal screening conditions, the corona layers interpenetrate once the volume fraction exceeds the critical value 0.53+/-0.02.

