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Title: Multivalent counterions diminish the lubricity of polyelectrolyte brushes

Journal Article · · Science
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [4]; ORCiD logo [3];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States); Nanyang Technological Univ. (Singapore)
  2. Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
  3. Univ. of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA (United States)
  4. Ben-Gurion Univ. of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion (Israel)

Polyelectrolyte brushes provide wear protection and lubrication in many technical, medical, physiological, and biological applications. Wear resistance and low friction are attributed to counterion osmotic pressure and the hydration layer surrounding the charged polymer segments. However, the presence of multivalent counterions in solution can strongly affect the interchain interactions and structural properties of brush layers. We evaluated the lubrication properties of polystyrene sulfonate brush layers sliding against each other in aqueous solutions containing increasing concentrations of counterions. The presence of multivalent ions (Y3+, Ca2+, Ba2+), even at minute concentrations, markedly increases the friction forces between brush layers owing to electrostatic bridging and brush collapse. Furthermore, our results suggest that the lubricating properties of polyelectrolyte brushes in multivalent solution are hindered relative to those in monovalent solution.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1463685
Journal Information:
Science, Vol. 360, Issue 6396; ISSN 0036-8075
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 102 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (13)

Recent Advances in Bioinspired Gel Surfaces with Superwettability and Special Adhesion journal July 2019
Investigating the effect of mono‐ and multivalent counterions on the conformation of poly(styrenesulfonic acid) by nanopores journal March 2019
The effects of grafting density and charge fraction on the properties of ring polyelectrolyte brushes: a molecular dynamics simulation study journal November 2019
Influence of divalent counterions on the solution rheology and supramolecular aggregation of carboxymethyl cellulose journal December 2018
Surface morphologies of spherical polyelectrolyte brushes induced by trivalent salt ions journal January 2018
Tuning phase transitions of aqueous protein solutions by multivalent cations journal January 2018
Multivalent counterions accumulate in star-like polyelectrolytes and collapse the polymer in spite of increasing its ionization journal January 2020
Tardigrade inspired polyelectrolyte complexation and functional materials journal January 2019
An in situ shearing x-ray measurement system for exploring structures and dynamics at the solid–liquid interface journal January 2020
Depletion layer dynamics of polyelectrolyte solutions under Poiseuille flow journal July 2019
Polydopamine-Assisted Immobilization of Chitosan Brushes on a Textured CoCrMo Alloy to Improve its Tribology and Biocompatibility journal September 2019
Wetting Behavior and Tribological Properties of Polymer Brushes on Laser-Textured Surface journal June 2019
Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study of Weak Polyelectrolyte Brushes in Salt Mixtures journal January 2019

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