Conformation of poly(ethylene oxide) dissolved in ethylammonium nitrate

Oliver Werzer, Gregory G. Warr, Rob Atkin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

42 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Small angle neutron scattering has been used to investigate the morphology of 38 kDa PEO dissolved in ethylammonium nitrate (EAN) in the dilute and semidilute concentration regions. At infinite dilution, the radius of gyration, Rg, is 8.1 nm. This value decreases through the dilute regime according to a concentration (c) dependence of Rg ≈ c-0.24, while above the overlap concentration a c-1 dependence is followed. These values differ from aqueous solution behavior, which we attribute to EAN being a poorer solvent for PEO than water; EAN is in fact close to a θ solvent. The polymer structure on length scales less than 3 nm is unaffected by increasing polymer concentration, suggesting that the overall decrease in coil dimensions is a consequence of tighter packing of ∼3 nm polymer "blobs" into a smaller volume.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)648-652
Number of pages5
JournalThe Journal of Physical Chemistry Part B: Condensed Matter, Materials, Surfaces, Interfaces & Biophysical
Volume115
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Conformation of poly(ethylene oxide) dissolved in ethylammonium nitrate'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this