Surface-Immobilized Interpolyelectrolyte Complexes Formed by Polyelectrolyte Brushes

A scaling theory of interaction and complex formation between planar polyelectrolyte (PE) brush and oppositely charged mobile linear PEs is developed. Counterion release is found to be the main driving force for the complexation. An interpolyelectrolyte coacervate complex (IPEC) between the brush and oppositely charged mobile PEs is formed at moderate grafting density and low salt concentration. At higher grafting density mobile chains penetrate the brush, but the brush structure is controlled by the balance between entropic elasticity and nonelectrostatic short-range interactions, as happens in a neutral brush. An increase in salt concentration beyond the theoretically predicted threshold leads to the release of the guest polyions from the brush. For brushes with moderate grafting density, complexation with oppositely charged guest polyions is predicted to trigger lateral microphase separation and formation of the finite-size surface IPEC clusters. Power law dependencies for the cluster dimensions on the brush grafting density, PE length, and salt concentration are provided.