Formation of polyelectrolyte multilayers: Ionic strengths and growth regimes

This article presents a study of layer-by-layer (LbL) formation of poly-electrolyte multilayers (PEMs). Upon increasing ionic strength LbL growth patterns vary from linear for the lowest salt concentrations ([NaCl] = 0, 0.001, and 0.01 M) to exponential (for [NaCl] = 0.5 and 1 M). The slope of the linear growth at the lowest ionic strengths...