| Abstract: | The behavior of films of polyelectrolytes at the water-organic liquid interface depends on the nature of the interface and the pH of the substratum. The present paper investigates the influence of these two factors on the cohesive forces between monomer units. Two polyelectrolytes were studied: poly(methacrylic acid) (APM) and poly-2-vinylpyridine (2-PVP). In the case of uncharged films, the collapse pressure decreases when the polarity of the organic phase becomes more important, whereas the term ω/kT, which appears in the theory of Motomura and Matuura, increases. A quantitative relation between the parameter ω/kT and the collapse pressure may be deduced. The behavior of the ionized surface film at different pH values is modified by the choice of the interface. However, there exists a competition between two phenomena: the dissolution of ionized residues in the substratum and the electrostatic repulsion between charges in the surface plane. Depending upon whether the first or the second parameter is more important, we observed that the surface pressure decreased or increased with the degree of ionization. |
