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Polyelectrolyte–Surfactant Complexes in the Solid State: Facile building blocks for self‐organizing materials
Author(s) -
Ober Christopher K.,
Wegner Gerhard
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.19970090104
Subject(s) - materials science , polyelectrolyte , nanotechnology , polymer , pulmonary surfactant , context (archaeology) , wetting , elastomer , solid state , self assembly , fabrication , chemical engineering , polymer science , composite material , engineering physics , medicine , paleontology , alternative medicine , pathology , engineering , biology
Even though mixtures of polyelectrolytes and surfactants are used in a variety of technologies, little is known about the solid state properties of complexes formed by the two components. Recently reported methods for preparing polyelectrolytesurfactant complexes and their solid‐state structure will be described in the context of the self‐assembly behavior of the source surfactant molecules. This facile process offers the opportunity of producing a variety of new materials with applications that may range from switchable, permselective biological membranes to fluorinated materials with non‐wetting properties. In the form of a solid‐state complex, remarkably diverse mechanical properties ranging from elastomers to crystalline solids can easily be achieved. This review discusses the growing quantity of research in this new field, and in particular, the fabrication of such complexes in the form of processable self‐doped conducting polymers is described.