Salt effect on the nanostructure of strong polyelectrolyte brushes in amphiphilic diblock copolymer monolayers on the water surface

Stretching of immersed polyelectrolyte brushes in shear flow

The way that polymer brushes respond to shear flow has important implications in various applications, including antifouling, corrosion protection, and stimuli-responsive materials. However, there is still much to learn about the behaviours and mechanisms that govern these responses. To address this gap in knowledge, our study uses in situ X-ray reflectivity to investigate how poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) brushes stretch and change in different environments, such as isopropanol (a poor solvent), water (a good solvent), and aqueous solutions containing various cations (Cs+, Ba2+, La3+, and Y3+). We have designed a custom apparatus that exposes the PSS brushes to both tangential shear forces from the primary flow and upward drag forces from a secondary flow. Our experimental findings clearly show that shear forces have a significant impact on how the chains in PSS brushes are arranged. At low shear rates, the tangential shear force causes the chains to tilt, leading to brush contraction. In contrast, higher shear rates generate an upward shear force that stretches and expands the chains. By analysing electron density profiles obtained from X-ray reflectivity, we gain valuable insights into how the PSS brushes respond structurally, especially the role of the diffuse layer in this dynamic behaviour. Our results highlight the importance of the initial chain configuration, which is influenced by the solvent and cations present, in shaping how polymer brushes respond to shear flow. The strength of the salt bridge network also plays a crucial role in determining how easily the brushes can stretch, with stronger networks offering more resistance to stretching. Ultimately, our study aims to enhance our understanding of polymer physics at interfaces, with a particular focus on practical applications involving polymer brushes.

Strong Anionic/Charge-Neutral Block Copolymers from Cu(0)-Mediated Reversible Deactivation Radical Polymerization

Despite recent developments in controlled polymerization techniques, the straightforward synthesis of block copolymers that feature both strong anionic and charge-neutral segments remains a difficult endeavor. In particular, solubility issues may arise during the direct synthesis of strong amphiphiles and typical postpolymerization deprotection often requires harsh conditions. To overcome these challenges, we employed Cu(0)-mediated reversible deactivation radical polymerization (Cu(0)-RDRP) on a hydrophobic isobutoxy-protected 3-sulfopropyl acrylate. Cu(0)-RDRP enables the rapid synthesis of the polymer, reaching high conversions and low dispersities while using a single solvent system and low amounts of copper species. These macromolecules are straightforward to characterize and can subsequently be deprotected in a mild yet highly efficient fashion to expose their strongly charged nature. Furthermore, a protected sulfonate segment could be grown from a variety of charge-neutral macroinitiators to produce, after the use of the same deprotection chemistry, a library of amphiphilic, double-hydrophilic as well as thermoresponsive block copolymers (BCPs). The ability of these various BCPs to self-assemble in aqueous media was further studied by dynamic light scattering, ζ-potential measurements as well as atomic force and electron microscopy.

Smart materials for point-of-care testing: From sample extraction to analyte sensing and readout signal generator

The last decade has seen a surge of technical developments in the field on point-of-care testing (POCT). While these developments are extremely diverse, the common aim is to implement improved methods for quick, reliable and inexpensive diagnosis of patients within the clinical setting. While examples of successful introduction and use of POCT techniques are growing, further developments are still necessary to create POCT devices with better portability, usability and performance. Advances in smart materials emerge as potentially valuable know-hows to provide a competitive edge to the development of next generation POCT devices. This review describes the key advantages of adopting smart material-based technologies at different analytical stages of a POCT platform. Under these analytical stages which involves sample pre-treatment, analyte sensing and readout signal generator, several concepts and approaches from contemporary research work in using smart material-based technologies will be the major focus in this review. Lastly, challenges and potential outlook in implementing materials technologies from the application point of view for POCT will be discussed.

Transformations of Thermosensitive Hyperbranched Poly(ionic liquid)s Monolayers

We synthesized amphiphilic hyperbranched poly(ionic liquid)s (HBPILs) with asymmetrical peripheral composition consisting of hydrophobic n-octadecylurethane arms and hydrophilic, ionically linked poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) macrocations and studied low critical solution temperature (LCST)-induced reorganizations at the air-water interface. We observed that the morphology of HBPIL Langmuir monolayers is controlled by the surface pressure with uniform well-defined disk-like domains formed in a liquid phase. These domains are merged and transformed to uniform monolayers with elevated ridge-like network structures representing coalesced interdomain boundaries in a solid phase because the branched architecture and asymmetrical chemical composition stabilize the disk-like morphology under high compression. Above LCST, elevated individual islands are formed because of the aggregation of the collapsed hydrophobized PNIPAM terminal macrocations in a solid phase. The presence of thermoresponsive PNIPAM macrocations initiates monolayer reorganization at LCST with transformation of surface mechanical contrast distribution. The heterogeneity of elastic response and adhesion distributions for HBPIL monolayers in the wet state changed from highly contrasted two-phase distribution below LCST to near-uniform mechanical response above LCST because of the hydrophilic to hydrophobic transformation of the PNIPAM phase.

Coupled Effects of Spreading Solvent Molecules and Electrostatic Repulsions on the Behavior of PS-b-PAA Monolayers at the Air-Water Interface

We describe the surface behavior of PS-b-PAA monolayers at the air/water interface using N,N-dimethyformamide (DMF) as spreading solvent. At low pH, when the PAA blocks are neutral, the surface pressure versus molecular area isotherm shows a pseudoplateau associated with the presence of remaining spreading solvent molecules in the monolayer, as we described in a former study (Guennouni et al., Langmuir, 2016). We show here that the width of the plateau decreases when increasing pH up to its complete disappearance at high pH, when PAA blocks are fully charged, although two regimes of compressibilities on the isotherm still exist. A refined structural study at pH 9 combining specular neutron reflectivity (SNR), grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) in liquid measurements shows that (i) PAA blocks are stretched in solution, as expected from polyelectrolyte brushes in the osmotic regime; (ii) the system undergoes a spinodal decomposition during deposit at the air/water interface in the presence of DMF. Upon compression, the Q_xy* position of the peak associated with the spinodal structure remains almost constant but its intensity evolves strongly and passes through a maximum at intermediate pressures. This reveals two operating processes in the system: strong electrostatic repulsions between chains that prevent in-plane reorganizations and force such reorganizations to occur from the surface to the volume and progressive expulsion of the DMF molecules from the monolayer. These processes have antagonist effects on the intensity of the peak: the increase of the repulsions makes it more pronounced, whereas the expulsion of solvent makes it vanish due to the loss of contrast.

Oxygen and carbon dioxide dual gas-responsive homopolymers and diblock copolymers synthesized via RAFT polymerization

This article reports a new strategy to prepare homopolymers with CO₂ and O₂ responsiveness via the installation of CO₂- and O₂-responsive functionalities in the same repeated unit.

Nanostructure of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Brush at the Air/Water Interface and Its Responsivity to Temperature and Salt

Nanostructure and transition of the poly(N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAm) brush at the air/water interface were investigated by π-A isotherm and X-ray reflectivity, and an interesting behavior was observed with the change in temperature and salt. The polymer monolayer of poly(n-butyl acrylate)(PnBA)-b-PNIPAm on the water surface showed a transition between carpet-only/carpet+brush structures as a function of brush density, which was controlled by compression/expansion, as was the case for ionic brush systems. The brush stretching factor was about 50%, which was slightly less than that for a strongly ionic brush. The number of water molecules inside the brush layer was estimated to be 11-13 per repeating unit of PNIPAm chain. This value is very close to the number of hydrated water molecules reported, which means that all the water molecules inside the brush layer were hydrated water. With elevating temperature, the PNIPAm brush shrank, and the number of water molecules in the brush layer was reduced to 3. These observations certainly indicated a dehydration process. Interestingly, a part of the PNIAPm chain formed a "hydrophobic PNIPAm layer" on the carpet layer under the PnBA hydrophobic layer. A similar transition was observed also by the addition of salt to the water subphase. Although the formation of "hydrophobic PNIPAm layer" was not observed in this case, shrinking of the brush was observed with increasing salt concentration, and finally it became a carpet-only structure, which contained no water molecules. This salt effect was found to be ion specific, and its effectiveness was in the order of F(-) > Cl(-) > Br(-), which is in agreement with the Hofmeister series.

Self-Organization of Polystyrene-b-polyacrylic Acid (PS-b-PAA) Monolayer at the Air/Water Interface: A Process Driven by the Release of the Solvent Spreading

We present an in situ structural study of the surface behavior of PS-b-PAA monolayers at the air/water interface at pH 2, for which the PAA blocks are neutral and using N,N-dimethyformamide (DMF) as spreading solvent. The surface pressure versus molecular area isotherm shows a perfectly reversible pseudoplateau over several cycles of compression/decompression. The width of such plateau enlarges when increasing temperature, conversely to what is classically observed in the case of an in-plane first order transition. We combined specular neutron reflectivity (SNR) experiments with contrast variation to solve the profile of each block perpendicular to the surface with grazing-incidence small-angle scattering (GISAXS) measurements to determine the in-plane structure of the layer. SNR experiments showed that both PS and PAA blocks remain adsorbed on the surface for all surface pressure probed. A correlation peak at Q(xy)* = 0.021 Å(-1) is evidenced by GISAXS at very low surface pressure which intensity first increases on the plateau. When compressing further, its intensity decays while Q(xy)* is shifted toward low Q(xy). The peak fully disappears at the end of the plateau. These results are interpreted by the formation of surface aggregates induced by DMF molecules at the surface. These DMF molecules remain adsorbed within the PS core of the aggregates. Upon compression, they are progressively expelled from the monolayer, which gives rise to the pseudoplateau on the isotherm. The intensity of the GISAXS correlation peak is set by the amount of DMF within the monolayer as it vanishes when all DMF molecules are expelled. This result emphizes the role of the solvent in Langmuir monolayer formed by amphiphilic copolymers which hydrophobic and hydrophilic parts are composed by long polymer chains.

Nanostructure and salt effect of zwitterionic carboxybetaine brush at the air/water interface

Zwitterionic amphiphilic diblock copolymer, poly(ethylhexyl acrylate)-b-poly(carboxybetaine) (PEHA-b-PGLBT), was synthesized by the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) method with precise control of block length and polydispersity. The polymers thus obtained were spread onto the water surface to form a polymer monolayer. The fundamental property and nanostructure of the block copolymer monolayer were systematically studied by the surface pressure-molecular area (π-A) isotherm, Brewster angle microscopy (BAM), and X-ray reflectivity (XR) techniques. The π values of the monolayer increased by compression in relatively larger A regions. After showing a large plateau region by compression, the π value sharply increased at very small A regions, suggesting the formation of poly(GLBT) brush formation just beneath the water surface. The domain structure of μm size was observed by BAM in the plateau region. XR profiles for the monolayer at higher surface pressure regions clearly showed the PGLBT brush formation in addition to PGLBT carpet layer formation under the hydrophobic PEHA layer on the water surface, as was observed for both anionic and cationic brush layer in the water surface monolayer studied previously. The critical brush density, where the PGLBT brush is formed, was estimated to be about 0.30 chains/nm(2) for the (EHA)45-b-(GLBT)60 monolayer, which is relatively large compared to other ionic brushes. This observation is consistent with the fact that the origin of brush formation is mainly steric hindrance between brush chains. The brush thickness increased by compression and also by salt addition, unlike the normal ionic brush (anionic and cationic), whose thickness tended to decrease, i.e., shrink, by salt addition. This might be a character unique to the zwitterionic brush, and its origin is thought to be transition to an ionic nature from the almost nonionic inner salt caused by salt addition since both the cation and anion of the GLBT chain obtained counterions by the addition of salt. This stretching nature of the PGLBT brush depends on the ion species of the salt added, and it followed the Hofmeister series, i.e., more stretching in the order of Li(+) > Na(+) > K(+). However, it was rather insensitive to the anion species (Cl(-), Br(-), SCN(-)), which suggests that the carboxylic anion has a more dominant effect than the quaternized cation in GLBT although the former is a weak acid and the latter is believed to be a strong base.

Nanostructure of a poly(acrylic acid) brush and its transition in the amphiphilic diblock copolymer monolayer on the water surface

The nanostructure and its transition of in a poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) brush in the water surface monolayers of poly(hydrogenated isoprene)-b-poly(acrylic acid) with different block lengths and block ratios were investigated by X-ray reflectivity as a function of surface pressure (brush density) and salt concentration in the subphase. The PAA brush showed the same behavior after salt addition as did the poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) brush, which was investigated previously. The brush chains expanded and then shrunk after passing the maximum with increasing added salt concentration. This behavior could be explained by the change in electric charges on the PAA brush chains as was observed on the PMAA brush. The PAA brush chains showed a critical brush density, where there was a transition between the carpet layer only and carpet + brush layer structures, as did the PMAA and poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PSS) brushes. The critical brush density was about 0.4 chains nm(-2), which was higher than that of the PSS brush, a strong acid brush, and was close to that of the PMAA brush, a weak acid brush. However, the critical brush density of the PAA brush was independent of the hydrophilic chain length whereas that of the PMAA brush decreased with increasing PMAA chain length. In addition, the PAA brush had a thicker carpet layer than the PSS and PMAA brushes. Hence, the mechanism of PAA brush formation was predicted to be different from that of not only the PSS brush (strong acid brush) but also the PMAA brush.