Resistance of poly(ethylene oxide)-silane monolayers to the growth of polyelectrolyte multilayers

The ability of poly(ethylene oxide)-silane (PEO-silane) monolayers grafted onto silicon surfaces to resist the growth of polyelectrolyte multilayers under various pH conditions is assessed for different pairs of polyelectrolytes of varying molar mass. For acidic conditions (pH 3), the PEO-silane monolayers exhibit good polyelectrolyte repellency provided the polyelectrolytes bear no moieties that are able to form hydrogen bonds with the ether groups of the PEO chains. At basic pH, PEO-silane monolayers undergo substantial hydrolysis leading to the formation of negatively charged defects in the monolayers, which then play the role of adsorption sites for the polycation. Once the polycation is adsorbed, multilayer growth ensues. Because this is defect-driven growth, the multilayer is not continuous and is made of blobs or an open network of adsorbed strands. For such conditions, the molar mass of the polyelectrolyte plays a key role, with polyelectrolyte chains of larger molar mass adsorbing on a larger number of defects, resulting in stronger anchoring of the polyelectrolyte complex on the surfaces and faster subsequent growth of the multilayer. For polyelectrolytes of sufficiently low molar mass at pH 9, the growth of the multilayer can nevertheless be prevented for as much as five cycles of deposition.