(393af) Influence of Surfactants On Morphology Diversity of Partially Hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide Self-Assembling in Aqueous Solution

Partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) as a mimic of random copolymers, which was synthesized by the combination of free radical solution polymerization of acrylamide and hydrolyzation, assembled in pH response into colloidal aggregates in pure aqueous solution due to hydrogen bonding complexation. At pH 1.3, lots of giant semihexagonal sheets (450 nm × 250 nm × 50 nm) were observed by transmission electron microscope (TEM) images. The influence of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) on the self-assembling morphologies of HPAM was investigated, and the morphology diversity of HPAM colloidal aggregates caused by surfactants was observed. Therefore, semihexagonal sheets were transformed into flower-like aggregates which responsed to CTAB addition, while coagulated spherical aggregates (D=100 nm) were obtained which responsed to SDS addition. Thus, the morphology of self-assemblies of HPAM was varied after surfactant added. Finally the effect of surfactants on morphology transform of HPAM colloidal aggregates was discussed.