Adsorption of polyelectrolyte on the surface of ZnO nanoparticles and the stability of colloidal dispersions

The present study focuses on the adsorption of a polyelectrolyte, the component of which is a polymer of maleic anhydride sodium salt, on the surface of nanometric zinc oxide particles and the colloidal stability of aqueous dispersions. FTIR spectroscopic data provided evidence in support of hydrogen bonding and chemical interaction in the case of the polyelectrolyte-ZnO system. The adsorption isotherms showed the influences of polyelectrolyte concentration, pH and ionic strength on the adsorption. With the increase of pH the saturated adsorbed amount decreased, while the thickness of adsorption layer increased. The saturated adsorbed amount increased with increasing salt concentration, and decreased with further increasing salt concentration. It should be noted that in the presence of a CaCl2 solution the adsorbed amount and the adsorption layer thickness were greater than those in the NaCl solution of the same concentration. The change of the absorbance of zinc oxide dispersions showed that the absorbance decreased slowly at high pH. There was a maximum point for the absorbance of the zinc oxide dispersions in the presence of various polyelectrolyte concentrations. The change of dispersion stability resulted from the change of macromolecular chains conformation at the interface.