Correlation length of hydrophobic polyelectrolyte solutions

D. Baigl; R. Ober; D. Qu; A. Fery; C. E. Williams

doi:10.1209/epl/i2003-00391-2

All issues

Volume 62 / No 4 (May 2003)

Europhys. Lett., 62 4 (2003) 588-594

Abstract

Issue		Europhys. Lett. Volume 62, Number 4, May 2003


Page(s)		588 - 594
Section		Interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2003-00391-2
Published online		01 May 2003

Europhys. Lett., 62 (4), pp. 588-594 (2003)

Correlation length of hydrophobic polyelectrolyte solutions

D. Baigl¹, R. Ober¹, D. Qu², A. Fery² and C. E. Williams¹

¹ Laboratoire des Fluides Organisés, CNRS UMR 7125, Collège de France 11, place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France
² Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid und Grenzflächenforschung Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Golm, Germany

Corresponding author: claudine.williams@college-de-france.fr

Received: 5 February 2003
Accepted: 14 March 2003

Abstract

The combination of two techniques (Small Angle X-ray Scattering and Atomic Force Microscopy) has allowed us to measure in reciprocal and real space the correlation length ξ of salt-free aqueous solutions of a highly charged hydrophobic polyelectrolyte as a function of the polymer concentration $C_{\ab{p}}$ , charge fraction f and chain length N. Contrary to the classical behaviour of hydrophilic polyelectrolytes in the strong-coupling limit, ξ is strongly dependent on f. In particular, a continuous transition has been observed from $\xi \sim C_{\ab{p}}^{-1/2}$ to $\xi\sim C_{\ab{p}}^{-1/3}$ when f decreased from 100% to 35%. We interpret this unusual behaviour as the consequence of the two features characterising the hydrophobic polyelectrolytes: the pearl necklace conformation of the chains and the anomalously strong reduction of the effective charge fraction.

PACS: 82.35.Rs – Polyelectrolytes / 61.10.-i – X-ray diffraction and scattering / 61.25.Hq – Macromolecular and polymer solutions; polymer melts; swelling

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