The effect of divalent ions to the phase behaviour of homogenous polyelectrolytes in solution

• Main Author: Heng, Michelle Jin Yee
• Other Authors: Yu Jing
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/76733
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Studies performed on strong polyelectrolyte, sodium polystyrene sulfonate (NaPSS), show that their stability in presence of divalent counterions depends on the type of divalent cation used. The interactions of the polyelectrolyte with divalent counterions are of electrostatic origin and phase diagrams are weakly dependent on the polymer backbone nature (hydrophilic or hydrophobic, flexible of stiff) but instead depend on the speciality of cation and nature of charged groups (this report focuses on sulfonates). However, to obtain a clear understanding of the phase behaviour of polyelectrolytes with salts, this is made difficult by the limited experimental studies as well as the many of experimental parameters which can be adjusted such as pH, molecular weight, temperature, monomer structure, counterion/salt properties, etc. A few conclusions were made to better understand the system and explanation for them.