Abstract: | Various functional diblock copolymers have been used as surface modifiers for rutile pigment in an effort to condition the solid for eventual use in multicomponent polymer systems. Coated surfaces were analyzed by inverse gas chromatography at infinite and finite dilution of the vapor phase, and by XPS. At high coverages (about 10% by weight of the pigment), the diblocks were randomly oriented at the air interface, effectively masking the surface of the rutile. At low diblock concentrations acid/base interactions dominated the orientation of the adsorbed molecule at the rutile interface, thereby also affecting the orientational states at the air interface. In this condition, the performance of the pigment in specified host polymer systems may be expected to vary with the selection of the diblock copolymer modifier. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 35: 1793–1805, 1997 |