Surface Characteristics and Physicochemical Properties of Polystyrene-b-Poly(Acrylic Acid) Determined by Inverse Gas Chromatography

Surface and bulk properties of polystyrene-b-poly(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA) were determined by inverse gas chromatography (IGC) technique. The determined surface properties were dispersive component of surface energy, gamma(D)(S) , Lewis acid and base constants, KA and K-D, respectively. The dispersive component of surface energy ranged from 39.9 to 20.9 mJ m(-2) at a temperature range from 303 to 343 K while K-A and K-D were found to be 0.083, and 0.781, respectively, at this temperature range. The higher KD than KA suggested the surface of the copolymer was basic. The bulk polymer interaction parameters such as weight fraction activity coefficient, Omega(infinity)(1), Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, chi(infinity)(12), equation-of-state interaction parameter, chi(12)*, and effective exchange energy parameter, X-eff of PS-b-PAA were determined using the retention data of several solvents at temperatures between 413 and 453 K.