Abstract
The adsorption of poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(butylene oxide) diblock copolymers at the solid-liquid interface was studied using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). The effect of modifying the end group of the hydrophilic block was investigated by comparing the behaviour of trimethylammonium- and dimethylamino-tipped copolymers, designated as TE (m) B (n) and DE (m) B (n) , respectively. For adsorption from aqueous solution onto a gold surface, results for DE49B22 were similar to those of the T-analogue, but for DE80B34 adsorbed amounts were substantially higher, and for DE27B25 enormously higher, than for the T-analogue. It is suggested that very high levels of adsorption are associated with the formation of a multilayer structure.