Fabrication of Covalently Linked PAH/PVS Layer-by-layer Assembled Multilayers via a Post-photochemical Cross-linking Strategy

A post-photochemical cross-linking strategy was successfully demonstrated to enhance the stability of polyelectrolyte poly(allylamine hydrochloride)(PAH)/poly(vinylsulfonic acid sodium salt)(PVS) multilayers. Conventional polyelectrolyte multilayers of PAH/PVS are usually fabricated through electrostatic layer-by-layer(LbL) assembly, resulting in poor stability, especially in basic solutions, which leads to the urgent demand for converting weak electrostatic interactions into covalent bonds to enhance the stability of the multilayers. This stability problem has been ultimately addressed by post-infiltrating a photosensitive cross-linking agent, 4,4'-diazostilbene-2,2'- disulfonic acid disodium salt(DAS), into the LbL assembled films to initiate the photochemical reaction to cross-link the multilayers. The obviously improved stability of the photo-cross-linked multilayers was demonstrated through experiments with basic solution treatments. Compared to the complete decomposition of uncross-linked multilayers in basic solution, over 74.4% of the covalently cross-linked multilayers were retained under the same conditions, even after a longer duration of basic solution treatment.