A study of long time behavior of aqueous solution of polyethylene oxide (Peo) and aqueous salt (potassium sulfate) solution of Peo using dynamic light scattering

This work involves the study of the long time behavior of dilute aqueous solutions of polyethylene oxide (PEO) and the properties of dilute aqueous salt (K{dollar}\sb2{dollar}SO{dollar}\sb4{dollar}) solutions of PEO by using the dynamic light scattering technique; The long time study measurement results indicated that the values of the polydispersity factor and the mutual diffusion coefficient of the PEO particles of the solutions changed very slowly. The analysis of the measured data implied that the aggregation of PEO in a dilute aqueous solution might not be an inherent property of the solution, and the aggregation was probably caused by the impurities in the solution; A series groups of aqueous salt (K{dollar}\sb2{dollar}SO{dollar}\sb4{dollar}) solutions of PEO with the K{dollar}\sb2{dollar}SO{dollar}\sb4{dollar} concentrations of 0.5M, 1.0M, 2.0M, 3.0M and 0.4M, were investigated using the dynamic light scattering technique The results indicated that the K{dollar}\sb{\rm d}{dollar} values decreased with increasing the concentration of K{dollar}\sb2{dollar}SO{dollar}\sb4{dollar}. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)