Analysis of structure and orientation of adsorbed polymers in solution subject to a dynamic shear stress

摘要

Polymer-based separation techniques rely on the ability of a binding portion of the polymer to interact with a specific molecule in a solution flowing past the polymer. The details of flow induced deformation of the polymer chains is important in such applications as exclusion chromatography, waste water treatment, ultrafiltration, enhanced oil recovery, and microbial adhesion. The goal of this project was to understand the molecular structure and orientation of adsorbed polymers with and without active binding ligands as a function of solvent shear rate, solvent power, polymer molecular weight, surface polymer coverage, and heterogeneity of the surface polymer chains by neutron reflectometry in a newly designed shear cell. Geometrical effects on binding of molecules in the flow was also studied subject to the same parameters.