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Scattering Study of the Structure of Polystyrene Sulfonate Comb Polyelectrolytes in Solution
Author(s) -
Papagiannopoulos Aristeidis,
Fernyhough Christine M.,
Waigh Thomas A.,
Radulescu Aurel
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/macp.200800428
Subject(s) - polyelectrolyte , small angle x ray scattering , scattering , materials science , monomer , aqueous solution , polystyrene , polymer chemistry , polystyrene sulfonate , sulfonate , side chain , polymer , chemistry , optics , physics , composite material , sodium , pedot:pss , metallurgy
Abstract The structures of a range of PSS combs in aqueous solutions were characterized using SLS, DLS, SANS and SAXS. Combined SLS and SANS data indicated that the comb polyelectrolytes adopted extended cylindrical structures in dilute solutions. The degree of extension of the side‐chains was analyzed by fitting the data with a novel cylindrical form factor using a variable number density of monomers. The results were in agreement with hydrodynamic radii from DLS measurements. Addition of salt to the samples caused a contraction of the cylindrical morphology, but the chains continued to adopt relatively extended conformations. In semi‐dilute solutions a universal behaviour, independent of the comb topology, was found for the screening length in SAXS measurements.