The effect of excluded volume on polymer dispersant action

Abstract

Polymer-stabilized colloid particles are modelled theoretically by plane surfaces on to which polymer chains are adsorbed by one end only. Interactions between segments of the polymer are treated as an excluded volume effect. It is shown that for high surface densities the polymer distribution function exactly satisfies a one dimensional equation which is solved numerically for two values of excluded volume to give the polymer segment density distributions and the free energy of interaction for various separations of the plane surfaces. It is found that a positive value of excluded volume greatly increases the repulsive free energy compared with that for chains with zero excluded volume, particularly at large separation distances of the surfaces. Excluded volume effects must therefore play an important part in the stabilization of colloids by adsorbed polymer.