Permeation of a cationic polyelectrolyte into meso-porous silica

A recently developed streaming potential (SP) strategy was used for the first time to investigate factors affecting permeation of the cationic polyelectrolyte poly-(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) from aqueous solution into silica gel particles. Factors affecting cationic polyelectrolyte permeation were considered, including polyelectrolyte dosage, molecular mass, solution pH, and electrical conductivity. Samples were equilibrated for approximately 20 h before testing. The magnitude of change in streaming potential, which was taken as evidence of permeation, increased with increasing polyelectrolyte dosage, with decreasing molecular mass, and with decreasing pH in the range 11 to 3. The pH effect supports a mechanism in which excessively strong electrostatic attraction between the polyelectrolyte and the substrate immobilizes macromolecules at or near the entrances to the pore network, thus inhibiting permeation of like-charged macromolecules. The same mechanism is consistent with observations that permeation increased with increasing electrical conductivity, though the latter observation also could be explained in terms of conformational changes.