Adsorption Kinetics of Polyelectrolytes on Planar Surfaces under Flow Conditions

The focus of our work has been to develop a theory of adsorption kinetics for polyelectrolytes in a flow cell onto planar surfaces in the framework of the two-dimensional model and to study adsorption processes of polyelectrolytes on a planar surface by ellipsometry. We have studied the adsorption kinetics of water-soluble cationic poly(vinylamine) hydrochloride homopolymer from aqueous solution onto both silicon wafers and polystyrene films by ellipsometry. Equations were derived to calculate (a) the equilibrium adsorption, (b) the thickness of the adsorbed layer, (c) the activation energy of adsorption for water-soluble polyelectrolytes, (d) the rate constant for the water-soluble polyelectrolytes, (e) the effective coefficients of diffusion in the adsorbed layer, and (f) the time needed to attain the equilibrium state for the adsorption of the water-soluble polyelectrolytes in a flow cell. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.