Conformational Study of Polyelectrolytes

Abstract

We have presented the conformational study of anionic polyelectrolyte, sodium sulfonated polystyrene having molecular weight 70kDa with the variation of the added electrolyte concentration. From the zeta potential measurements we found the decrease in particle mobility on increasing the salt concentration from 0M to 0.15M resulting in a decrease in the effective charge on the molecules. A similar decreasing pattern was observed for the viscosity measured by capillary viscometer with increase in the electrolyte concentration. The hydrodynamic radius of the particles obtained from the dynamic light scattering experiments showed significantly lower values with increment in salt concentration. The decreasing values of these parameters with rise in ionic strength indicate the collapsing of the extended polyelectrolyte chains in presence of salt.