Fine-Tuning the Wetting Behavior of Polyelectrolyte Films with Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate

Date of Award

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Johal, Malkait

Keywords

Contact Angle, Polyelectrolytes, Surfactants

Area of Concentration

Chemistry

Abstract

Studying the fundamental interactions between polyelectrolytes and oppositely charged surfactants is important to a number of technologies, including adhesion, detergency and drug delivery. In this work, selfassembled charge alternating polyelectrolyte multilayers constructed by sequential adsorption of polycations and polyanions are studied. The inclusion of sodium dodecyl sulfate into the polyelectrolyte films is driven primarily by strong polycation-SDS electrostatic interactions and entropic gain via ion disassociation. This results in substantial changes in the wetting properties of these multilayer systems. In addition to ellipsometric measurements of film thickness and spectroscopic studies, dynamic surface tensiometry was used to determine advancing and receding contact angles of the film surfaces. Advancing contact angle measurements were used to determine the kinetics of SDS adsorption on polycation surfaces. Contact angle measurements were also utilized for obtaining information about surface wettabilty via concentration dependence of SDS and polycation PEI on respective surfaces.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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