title: A small-angle neutron scattering study of poly(ethylene oxide) microstructure in aqueous poly(styrenesulfonate sodium) solutions.
abstract: Dilute aqueous solutions of d-PEO and PSSNa mixtures were studied by (2)H NMR spectroscopy and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The interactions between d-PEO and PSSNa were found to be negligible both in the presence and absence of NaCl. At very dilute concentration (0.7 mg mL(-1)), d-PEO chains were still found to be slightly collapsed at ambient temperature in water. Upon the addition of PSSNa, aggregates of d-PEO were observed with d-PEO coils loosely associated with each other. The average centre to centre distance between d-PEO coils, which was calculated from the maxima in SANS spectra, was similar to the size of the individual coils. The effect of a simple salt, NaCl, on d-PEO-PSSNa interaction was investigated. Salt addition induced a breakdown of the dilute d-PEO aggregates.
authors: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors: Zewei
authors: Z
authors: Bai
authors: Yue
authors: Y
authors: Xie
authors: Chunhai
authors: C
authors: Chen
authors: Terence
authors: T
authors: Cosgrove
authors: Dong
authors: D
authors: Qiu