Investigation of the effects caused by applying voltage in Layer-by-Layer self-assembly method

Recently, Layer-by-Layer (LbL) self-assembly method under applied voltage (voltage-applied LbL) attracts great attention. It is reported that the method enables more abundant film adsorption than conventional LbL method. However, a small proportion of experimental results about adsorption of polyelectrolytes by voltage-applied LbL have been reported. In this study, voltage-applied LbL method using weakly charged polyelectrolytes was examined. Poly (allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and Poly (ethylene imine) (PEI) as cationic solutions and Poly (acrylic acid) (PAA) as anionic solution were chosen. The pH of solutions was adjusted to several conditions and film of PAH/PAA and film of PEI/PAA were fabricated by voltage-applied LbL method. Change of adsorption behavior and film morphology by applying voltage depended on pH condition of solutions. When pH of PAH/PAA solutions was 3.9/3.8, respectively, the film adsorption was accelerated by applying voltage. Moreover, in this condition, the surface morphology remarkably changes and texture structure appears by applying voltage. Consequently, it was found that applying voltage in LbL method was effective in controlling film adsorption and the surface nano structure.