Poly(styrene sulfonate) self-organization: electrostatic and secondary interactions

We investigate the self-organization of PSS in brushes and polyelectrolyte multilayers with X-ray, neutron and optical reflectivity. The electrostatic force dominates brush phases and adsorption behavior, additionally we find evidence of a strong hydrophobic force: (i) within amphiphilic diblock copolymer monolayers, a PSS monolayer adsorbs flatly to the hydrophobic block, (ii) on temperature increase (and with screened electrostatic forces), more PSS is adsorbed onto oppositely charged surfaces, and (iii) a polyelectrolyte multilayers shrinks when heated at 100% r.h. The latter two effects are consistent with the well-known increase of the hydrophobic force on heating: The increased PSS su…