Electroresponsive Polyelectrolyte Brushes Studied by Self-Consistent Field Theory

End-grafting of polyelectrolyte chains to conducting substrates offers an opportunity to fabricate electro-responsive surfaces capable of changing their physical/chemical properties (adhesion, wettability) in response to applied electrical voltage. We use a self-consistent field numerical approach to compare the equilibrium properties of tethered strong and weak (pH-sensitive) polyelectrolytes to applied electrical field in both salt-free and salt-containing solutions. We demonstrate that both strong and weak polyelectrolyte brushes exhibit segregation of polyions in two populations if the surface is oppositely charged with respect to the brush. This segregation gives rise to complex patterns in the dependence of the brush thickness on salt concentration. We demonstrate that adjustable ionization of weak polyelectrolytes weakens their conformational response in terms of the dependence of brush thickness on the amplitude of the applied voltage

Formation and structure of ionomer complexes from grafted polyelectrolytes

We discuss the structure and formation of Ionomer Complexes formed upon mixing a grafted block copolymer (poly(acrylic acid)-b-poly(acrylate methoxy poly(ethylene oxide)), PAA21-b-PAPEO14) with a linear polyelectrolyte (poly(N-methyl 2-vinyl pyridinium iodide), P2MVPI), called grafted block ionomer complexes (GBICs), and a chemically identical grafted copolymer (poly(acrylic acid)-co-poly(acrylate methoxy poly(ethylene oxide)), PAA28-co-PAPEO22) with a linear polyelectrolyte, called grafted ionomer complexes (GICs). Light scattering measurements show that GBICs are much bigger (~70–100 nm) and GICs are much smaller or comparable in size (6–22 nm) to regular complex coacervate core micelles (C3Ms). The mechanism of GICs formation is different from the formation of regular C3Ms and GBICs, and their size depends on the length of the homopolyelectrolyte. The sizes of GBICs and GICs slightly decrease with temperature increasing from 20 to 65 °C. This effect is stronger for GBICs than for GICs, is reversible for GICs and GBIC-PAPEO14/P2MVPI228, and shows some hysteresis for GBIC-PAPEO14/P2MVPI43. Self-consistent field (SCF) calculations for assembly of a grafted block copolymer (having clearly separated charged and grafted blocks) with an oppositely charged linear polyelectrolyte of length comparable to the charged copolymer block predict formation of relatively small spherical micelles (~6 nm), with a composition close to complete charge neutralization. The formation of micellar assemblies is suppressed if charged and grafted monomers are evenly distributed along the backbone, i.e., in case of a grafted copolymer. The very large difference between the sizes found experimentally for GBICs and the sizes predicted from SCF calculations supports the view that there is some secondary association mechanism. A possible mechanism is discussed

Structure and properties of polydisperse polyelectrolyte brushes studied by self-consistent field theory.

Two complementary self-consistent field theoretical approaches are used to analyze the equilibrium structure of binary and ternary brushes of polyions with different degrees of polymerization. Stratification in binary brushes is predicted: the shorter chains are entirely embedded in the proximal sublayer depleted of end-points of longer chains while the peripheral sublayer contains exclusively terminal segments of longer chains. The boundary between sublayers is enriched with counterions that neutralize the residual charge of the proximal sublayer. These analytical predictions for binary brushes are confirmed and extended to ternary brushes using the numerical Scheutjens-Fleer approach

Self-consistent field theory for the interactions between keratin intermediate filaments

Background: Keratins are important structural proteins found in skin, hair and nails. Keratin Intermediate Filaments are major components of corneocytes, nonviable horny cells of the Stratum Corneum, the outermost layer of skin. It is considered that interactions between unstructured domains of Keratin Intermediate Filaments are the key factor in maintaining the elasticity of the skin. Results: We have developed a model for the interactions between keratin intermediate filaments based on self-consistent field theory. The intermediate filaments are represented by charged surfaces, and the disordered terminal domains of the keratins are represented by charged heteropolymers grafted to these surfaces. We estimate the system is close to a charge compensation point where the heteropolymer grafting density is matched to the surface charge density. Using a protein model with amino acid resolution for the terminal domains, we find that the terminal chains can mediate a weak attraction between the keratin surfaces. The origin of the attraction is a combination of bridging and electrostatics. The attraction disappears when the system moves away from the charge compensation point, or when excess small ions and/or NMF-representing free amino acids are added. Conclusions: These results are in concordance with experimental observations, and support the idea that the interaction between keratin filaments, and ultimately in part the elastic properties of the keratin-containing tissue, is controlled by a combination of the physico-chemical properties of the disordered terminal domains and the composition of the medium in the inter-filament region. Keywords: Stratum corneum, Skin keratins, Intermediate filaments, Unstructured terminal domains, Bridging attractio

Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids: Excluded Volume and Ion Polarizability Effects in the Electrical Double-Layer Structure and Capacitance

We study structures of room-temperature ionic liquids at electrified interfaces and the corresponding electrical double-layer capacities using a self-consistent mean-field theory. Ionic liquids are modeled as segmented dendrimers and the effective dielectric constant is calculated from the local distribution of ions to accommodate the excluded volume and the local dielectric screening effects. The resulting camel-shaped capacitance curve is further analyzed in terms of the thickness of alternating layers and the polarization of ions at electrified interfaces. © 2009 The American Physical Society

Critical point wetting for binary two-phase polymer-solvent mixtures on solid interfaces

\u3cp\u3eCahn argued that the wetting temperature, T\u3csub\u3ew\u3c/sub\u3e, is always below the critical temperature, T\u3csub\u3ec\u3c/sub\u3e, of a binary solvent mixture. A self-consistent field theory is used to show that this phenomenon is expected to be best observable for low molecular weight compounds. In polymer-solvent mixtures in contact with a rigid surface made of the same material as the polymer units, the difference T\u3csub\u3ew\u3c/sub\u3e -T\u3csub\u3ec\u3c/sub\u3e becomes minimal for an intermediate degree of polymerization N = N** (∼65). The polymer wets the surface for N < N**, whereas for larger N the solvent is at the wall. Critical wetting is the rule; first-order wetting is only found for relatively short chains, 2 ≤ N ≤ 16.\u3c/p\u3

(Homo)polymer-mediated colloidal stability of micellar solutions

\u3cp\u3eDespite their wide range of applications, there is a remarkable lack of fundamental understanding about how micelles respond to other components in solution. The colloidal stability of micellar solutions in presence of (homo)polymers is investigated here following a theoretical bottom-up approach. A polymer-mediated micelle-micelle interaction is extracted from changes in the micelle-unimer equilibrium as a function of the inter-micelle distance. The homopolymer-mediated diblock copolymer micelle-micelle interaction is studied both for depletion and adsorption of the homopolymer. The fluffy nature of the solvophilic domain (corona) of the micelle weakens the depletion-induced destabilization. Accumulation of polymers into the corona induces bridging attraction between micelles. In fact, both depletion and adsorption phenomena are regulated by the coronal thickness relative to the size of the added polymer. Penetration of guest compounds into the coronal domain of crew-cut micelles, with a narrower yet denser corona, is less pronounced as for starlike micelles (with a more diffuse corona). Therefore, crew-cut micelles are less sensitive to the effect of added compounds, and hence more suitable for applications in multicomponent systems, such as industrial formulations or biological fluids. The trends observed for the colloidal stability of crew-cut micelles qualitatively match with our experimental observations on aqueous dispersions of polycaprolactone-polyethylene glycol (PCL-PEO) micellar suspensions with added PEO chains.\u3c/p\u3