Formation and mechanical characterization of ionically crosslinked membranes at oil-water interfaces.

Here we report on the preparation and mechanical characterization of a 2-D self-assembled membrane formed by ionically crosslinking the polyelectrolyte parts of a gradient amphiphilic copolymer at oil and water interfaces. To fabricate these membranes, chloroform solutions of styrene-acrylic acid copolymers were suspended as pendant drops in an aqueous embedding phase. Due to the amphiphilic nature of these molecules, the copolymer chains migrate to the oil-water interface creating an interfacial layer.

Strain stiffening in synthetic and biopolymer networks.

Strain-stiffening behavior common to biopolymer networks is difficult to reproduce in synthetic networks. Physically associating synthetic polymer networks can be an exception to this rule and can demonstrate strain-stiffening behavior at relatively low values of strain. Here, the stiffening behavior of model elastic networks of physically associating triblock copolymers is characterized by shear rheometry.