TY - THES A1 - Ott, Patrick T1 - Neue kovalent vernetzbare Polyelektrolytmultischichtsysteme Y1 - 2010 CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Köhler, Ralf A1 - Doench, Ingo A1 - Ott, Patrick A1 - Laschewsky, André A1 - Fery, Andreas A1 - Krastev, Rumen T1 - Neutron reflectometry study of swelling of polyelectrolyte multilayers in water vapors : influence of charge density of the polycation N2 - We studied the swelling of polyelectrolyte (PE) multilayers (PEM) in water (H2O) vapors. The PEM were made from polyanion poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) and polycation poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride)-N-methyl-N-vinylacetamide (pDADMAC-NMVA). While PSS is a fully charged polyanion, pDADMAC-NMVA is a random copolymer made of charged pDADMAC and uncharged NMVA monomer units. Variation of the relative amount of these two units allows for controlling the charge density of pDADMAC-NMVA. The degree of swelling was studied as it function of the relative humidity in the experimental chamber (respectively water concentration in the gas phase) for PEM prepared from PSS and pDADMAC-NMVA with their different charge densities - 100%, 89% and 75%. The films were prepared by means of spraying technique and consisted of six PE couples-PSS/pDADMAC-NMVA. Neutron reflectometry was applied as main tool to observe the swelling process. The technique allows to obtain in a single experiment information about film thickness and amount of water in the film. The experiments were complemented with AFM measurements to obtain the thickness of the films. It was found that the Film thickness increases when the charge density of the polycation decreases. The swelling of the PEM increases with the relative humidity and it depends on the charge density of pDADMAC-NMVA. The swelling behavior is 2-fold, splitting up in a charge dependent mode with relatively little volume increase, and a second mode With high volume expansion, which is independent from charge density of PEM. The "swelling transition" occurs for all samples at a relative humidity about 60% and a volume increase of ca. 20%. The results were interpreted according to the Flory-Huggins theory which assumes a phase separation in PEM network at higher water contents. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://pubs.acs.org/journal/langd5 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/La901508w SN - 0743-7463 ER -