Assembly of polyelectrolyte star block copolymers at the oil–water interface
Jan‐Michael Y. Carrillo, Zhan Chen, Uvinduni I. Premadasa, Christian Steinmetz, E. Bryan Coughlin, Benjamin Doughty, Thomas P. Russell, Bobby G. Sumpter
Abstract
the Frumkin isotherm, which phenomenologically describes anti-cooperativity in adsorbing stars to the interface due to crowding. Although our model explicitly considers long-range electrostatics, the contribution of electrostatics to interfacial tension is small and brought about by strong counterion condensation at the interface. These results provide key insights into resolving the adsorption, reconfiguration, and equilibrium conformations of charged star block copolymers as surfactants.
Topics & Concepts
CopolymerAqueous solutionPolystyreneMaterials sciencePhase (matter)PolyelectrolytePolymer chemistrySurface tensionAmphiphileAdsorptionChemical engineeringProtonationChemistryOrganic chemistryThermodynamicsPolymerComposite materialEngineeringPhysicsIonSurfactants and Colloidal SystemsElectrostatics and Colloid InteractionsBlock Copolymer Self-Assembly