Adsorption of anionic polyelectrolyte and comb polymers onto lead magnesium niobate

This paper presents the results concerning the adsorption mechanism of polyacrylic acid (PAA) and polyacrylic acid/polyethylene oxide (PAA/PEO) comb polymer onto lead magnesium niobate (PMN) powders. In the study adsorption behavior of PAA and PAA/PEO onto PMN surface were determined in aqueous solutions and the influence of pH and ionic strength was investigated. Results showed that adsorption of PAA or PAA/PEO increased with decreasing pH of the suspensions. The increase in the ionic strength or the presence of divalent cations caused an increase in the adsorption of both polyelectrolytes. It was observed that the adsorption reaches a maximum when PAA is fully complexed in solution. On the other hand, the increase in the adsorption of PAA/PEO onto PMN in the presence of monovalent or divalent salt was attributed to the decrease in the electrostatic forces rather than complex formation with the divalent metal ions in solution. Turbidity measurements showed that there is no complex formation between the divalent metal ions and PAA/PEO comb polymers due to shielding effect of the PEO teeth.