Kinetics and Isotherms of Cationic Polyelectrolyte Adsorption on Quartz

The kinetics of the formation of quartz surface charge in the solutions of a cationic polyelectrolyte, poly(styrene-co-dimethyl aminopropylmaleimide) with the molecular mass M = 20000 is studied in the concentration range from 10^–5 to 0.5 g/l in 10^–4 M KCl background solution at pH 6.5. Quartz capillaries with the radius from 5 to 10 m and molecularly smooth surface are used as model systems. Characteristic times of the formation of the surface charge at equilibrium with the solution are calculated from the data on the kinetics of adsorption; these times are equal to 40–50 min for the region of electrostatic adsorption (before the surface charge reversal) and 20–25 min, for the region of hydrophobic adsorption upon the formation of the second adlayer. Based on the steady values of the surface charge, the isotherms and potentials of adsorption of cationic polyelectrolyte are calculated. Electrostatic adsorption isotherm is described by the Langmuir equation with the energy of molecular adsorption of 25.4kT. It is shown that, at polymer concentration above 10^–2 g/l, the conformation of adsorbed molecules ceases to be planar. However, even in this case, we succeed in calculating the surface charge using the Helmholtz and Gouy equations and applying the pressure drops at the capillary ends higher than 10 atm, when under the loading of increasing shear stress in the surface layer the conformation of adsorbed molecules approaches the planar shape. Based on the two-layer model of the formation of surface charge developed earlier, it is shown that the energy of hydrophobic adsorption is smaller than that of electrostatic adsorption and is equal to 17.7kT. Possible physical mechanisms of electrostatic and hydrophobic adsorption of cationic polyelectrolyte molecules on quartz are discussed.