Adhesion of Colloidal Polyelectrolyte Complexes to Wet Cellulose

The adhesion of wet regenerated cellulose to colloidal complexes formed between carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and polyvinylamine (PVAm) was evaluated by measuring the force to delaminate pairs of regenerated cellulose membranes bound together with polyelectrolyte complex. The most important parameter was the surface composition of the colloidal complex particles. High delamination forces corresponded to using complexes coated with excess PVAm whereas low adhesion was observed for both CMC coated complexes and complexes in which the PVAm was replaced with polymer bearing quaternary amine groups. Adhesion with complexes was highest at pH 4 and rather insensitive to pH from 6 to 9. Finally, mild TEMPO/NaBr/NaClO oxidation of the cellulose gave much stronger adhesion when PVAm was in excess but not with the CMC rich complexes.