Correlation between mobility, ion concentration profile and swelling behavior of polymer films in the interphase close to solid substrates

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The project focuses on the study and control of the interphase between film bulk (continuum) and solid substrate in polymer films with a thickness between 1 nm and 1µm. As a model system we study polyelectrolyte multilayers, which are formed by alternating adsorption of polyanions and polycations from aqueous solutions. Since the polyanion and polycation layers are strongly interdigitated with each other the multilayers can be considered as one polymer phase. The preparation of multilayers of different numbers of adsorbed layers gives them the opportunity to scan properties like polymer mobility and density with a resolution on a sub–nm scale. In the first period we focused on the structure profile and the swelling behavior in water. Especially, ion specific effects were taken into account. In the second period we will study the correlation between structure profile, (visco)elasticity and dynamics within the polymer films. The effect of substrate will be studied by using materials of different surface roughness and charge and different pre–coatings with respect to hydrophobicity.