title: Soft X-ray microscopy to characterize polyelectrolyte assemblies.
abstract: Transmission microscopy with soft X-rays (TXM) is applied to image in-situ polyelectrolyte assemblies in aqueous environment. The method is element specific and at this stage exhibits a lateral resolution of 20 nm. With the specific examples of hollow capsules and full spheres made of PAH/PSS polyelectrolyte multilayers, it is shown quantitatively that heat treatment irreversibly reduces the water content in the membrane. These experiments complement those reported recently on the polyion system PDADMAC/PSS, which shows a different glass-transition behavior. Finally, the potential and present limitations of TXM are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, 14424 Potsdam, Germany. karen.koehler@mpikg.mpg.de
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Köhler
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Déjugnat
authors.forename: Monique
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dubois
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zemb
authors.forename: Gleb B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Sukhorukov
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guttmann
authors.forename: Helmuth
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Möhwald