Nanostructure of a poly(acrylic acid) brush and its transition in the amphiphilic diblock copolymer monolayer on the water surface.

The nanostructure and its transition of in a poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) brush in the water surface monolayers of poly(hydrogenated isoprene)-b-poly(acrylic acid) with different block lengths and block ratios were investigated by X-ray reflectivity as a function of surface pressure (brush density) and salt concentration in the subphase. The PAA brush showed the same behavior after salt addition as did the poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) brush, which was investigated previously. The brush chains expanded and then shrunk after passing the maximum with increasing added salt concentration. This behavior could be explained by the change in electric charges on the PAA brush chains as was observed on the PMAA brush. The PAA brush chains showed a critical brush density, where there was a transition between the carpet layer only and carpet + brush layer structures, as did the PMAA and poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PSS) brushes. The critical brush density was about 0.4 chains nm(-2), which was higher than that of the PSS brush, a strong acid brush, and was close to that of the PMAA brush, a weak acid brush. However, the critical brush density of the PAA brush was independent of the hydrophilic chain length whereas that of the PMAA brush decreased with increasing PMAA chain length. In addition, the PAA brush had a thicker carpet layer than the PSS and PMAA brushes. Hence, the mechanism of PAA brush formation was predicted to be different from that of not only the PSS brush (strong acid brush) but also the PMAA brush.