Counter Anion Type Influences the Glass Transition Temperature of Polyelectrolyte Complexes.

Salt acts as a plasticizer in polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs), which impacts the physical, thermal, and mechanical properties, thus having implications in applications, such as drug delivery, energy storage, and smart coatings. Added salt disrupts polycation-polyanion intrinsic ion pairs, lowering a hydrated PEC's glass transition temperature (). However, the relative influence of counterion type on the PEC's is not well understood.

Solid-Liquid-Solution Phases in Poly(diallyldimethylammonium)/Poly(acrylic acid) Polyelectrolyte Complexes at Varying Temperatures.

The coacervation and complexation of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes are dependent on numerous environmental and preparatory factors, but temperature is often overlooked. Temperature effects remain unclear because the temperature dependence of both the dielectric constant and polymer-solvent interaction parameter can yield lower and/or upper critical solution phase behaviors for PECs. Further, secondary interactions, such as hydrogen bonding, can affect the temperature response of a PEC.

A Perspective on the Glass Transition and the Dynamics of Polyelectrolyte Multilayers and Complexes.

Polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) or polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs), formed by layer-by-layer assembly or the mixing of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes (PEs) in aqueous solution, respectively, have potential applications in health, energy, and the environment. PEMs and PECs are very tunable because their structure and properties are influenced by factors such as pH, ionic strength, salt type, humidity, and temperature. Therefore, it is increasingly important to understand how these factors affect PECs and PEMs on a molecular level.

Emerging trends in the dynamics of polyelectrolyte complexes.

Polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) are highly tunable materials that result from the phase separation that occurs upon mixing oppositely charged polymers. Over the years, they have gained interest due to their broad range of applications such as drug delivery systems, protective coatings, food packaging, and surface adhesives. In this review, we summarize the structure, phase transitions, chain dynamics, and rheological and thermal properties of PECs.

Comparing water-mediated hydrogen-bonding in different polyelectrolyte complexes.

All-atom molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate the polyelectrolyte-specific influence of hydration and temperature on water diffusion in hydrated polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs). Two model PECs were compared: poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH)-poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) and poly(diallyldimethylammonium) (PDADMA)-poly(acrylic acid) (PAA). The findings show that the strength of the hydrogen bonding i.