1.

INTRODUCTION

Recent decades witnessed the appearance of polymers that respond in some desired way to
changes in temperature, pH, electric or magnetic field. The driving force behind these transitions
include stimuli like neutralization of charged groups by either a pH shift or the addition of an
oppositely charged polymer, changes in the efficiency of hydrogen bonding with an increase in
temperature or ionic strength and collapse of hydrogels and interpenetration of polymer network.
These types of polymers not only convert the active substances into a non-deleterious form
which can be administered, but also have specific effect on the biodistribution, bioavailability or
absorption of the active substances and hence increasingly gaining importance in modern
pharmaceutical technology. The interaction between two oppositely charged polymers results in
the formation of a complex, termed as polyelectrolyte complex. These polyelectrolyte complexes
meet the profile of requirements of biocompatible polymer systems and can be adapted to meet
the various requirements like carrier substances and components for active substances.
Polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) are the association complexes formed between oppositely
charged particles (e.g. polymer-polymer, polymer-drug and polymer-drug-polymer). These are
formed due to electrostatic interaction between oppositely charged polyions. This avoids the use
of chemical cross linking agents, thereby reducing the possible toxicity and other undesirable
effects of the reagents. The polyelectrolyte complexes formed between a poly acid and poly base
are little affected by the pH variation of the dissolution medium. This concept of complexation,
between DNA and chitosan, has extensively been studied in the development of delivery vehicle
for gene therapy and oral vaccination.

1.1. TYPES OF POLYELECTROLYTE

There are different types of polyelectrolytes that can be classified based on their ability to
dissociate in an aqueous solution. Polyelectrolytes that can dissociate completely in macro ions
and counter ions through a whole range of pH are considered to be strong polyelectrolytes
(example – Sodium polystyrene) while those that do not dissociate at certain pH values are
considered to be weak polyelectrolytes (polyacrylic acid) . Polyelectrolytes typically have the
viscosity of a polymer and the electrical properties of an electrolyte. Polyelectrolytes are also
classified depending on their charge: Polycation – the ionic group is positively charged.
Polyanion – the ionic group is negatively charged. Polyampholytes – they carry both anionic and
cationic groups Proteins are an example of polyampholytes and they become positively charged
in an acidic medium, negatively charged in an alkaline medium and neutrally charged at the
isoelectric point.
Polyelectrolytes that have a broad range of size, shape and mass characteristics are usually
characterized by their polydispersity index. Polydispersity index is the measure of the
distribution of molecular mass in a given sample of polymer.

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1.2 APPLICATION OF POLYELECTROLYTE

1.3 FORMATION OF POLYELECTROLYTE COMPLEX

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 Schematic representation of the formation and aggregation of PECs
(a) Primary complex formation (b) Formation process within intracomplexes (c) Inter complex
aggregation process

This process involves mainly 3 steps. First step is primary complex formation and Coulomb forces are
responsible for this step. Second step is formation process within intracomplexes. It involves formation of
new bonds and/or the correction of the distortions of the polymer chains. Third is intercomplex
aggregation process, which involves the aggregation of secondary complexes mainly through hydrophobic
interactions.

HUMIDITY SENSING
It is known that humidity plays a significant role in every part of the Earth in biology and automated
industrial processes. To have a desirable surrounding atmosphere, it is essential to monitor, detect and
control the ambient humidity under different conditions ranging from low temperature to high or in
mixtures with other gases by precise and provident sensors. Utilization in intelligent systems and
networks as monitoring sensors to determine the soil moisture during irrigation in agriculture, or for
diagnosis of corrosion and erosion in infrastructures and civil engineering are among the applications of
humidity sensors. In fact, the need for protection of environmental conditions has been leading to
extensions in various humidity sensor developments based on the use of physical and chemical methods
in presence of organic, inorganic or hybrid materials. Advancement of humidity sensory systems
encompasses enhanced efforts in betterment of transducer performance such as sensing elements,
structure design, principle of mechanism, and fabrication technologies. In this context the transducer
materials are the key features, followed by the availability of suitable manufacturing technologies, free
choice of device geometrical properties to attain the required dimensional efficiencies, optimisation of
surface for the occurrence of conductance, ease of production flow and investment expenses.

Humidity is defined as the amount of water vapour in an atmosphere of air or other gases.
Humidity parameters are stated in diverse ways and the corresponding units are based on the
measurement technique used. The most commonly used terms are ―Relative Humidity (RH)‖,
―Parts Per Million (PPM) by weight or by volume and ―Dew/Frost Point (D/F PT), in which
the two latter are subclasses of ―Absolute Humidity (AB). Absolute Humidity units are
applicable for the primary measurement results inasmuch as one is able to directly measure the

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value of the water vapour content. In contrast, Relative Humidity is true for the secondary
measurement results, since measurement of the water vapour values is mediated in some fashion.
Absolute Humidity (vapour density) is defined as a ratio of the mass of water vapour in air to the
volume of air, with the unit of grams per cubic meter or grains per cubic foot (1 grain = 1/7000
pound lb)
and expressed as:

where AB is the absolute humidity (g/m3 or grains/ft3), mw is the mass of water vapour (gram or
grain) and v is the volume of air (m3 or ft3).
Relative Humidity (abbreviated as RH) is defined as ratio of the amount of moisture content of
air to the maximum (saturated) moisture level that the air can hold at a same given temperature
and pressure of the gas. RH is a temperature dependent magnitude, and hence it is a relative
measurement.
The RH measurement is stated as a percentage and determined by the expression:

where PV is the actual partial pressure of moisture content in air and PS is the saturated pressure
of moist air at the same given temperature (both in Bar or KPa).
Saturation Humidity is defined as the ratio of the mass of water vapour at saturation to the
volume of air:

where SH is the saturation humidity (g/m3), mws is mass of water vapour at saturation (g) and v
is the volume of air (m3). The saturation humidity is a function of temperature and can provide
the maximum amount of moisture content (mass) in a unit volume of gas at a given temperature.
Sen, Relative Humidity can be represented in other way by calculating the ratio of absolute
humidity to saturation humidity as a percentage as follows:

Parts Per Million by volume (PPMv) is defined as volume of water vapour content per volume of
dry gas, and Parts Per Million by weight (PPMw) is obtained by multiplying PPMv by the mole
weight of water per mole weight of that gas or air. PPMv and PPMw are among the absolute

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humidity measurements. Dew point is defined as a temperature (above 0 °C) at which the water
vapour content of the gas begins to condense into liquid water, and Frost point is the temperature
(below 0 °C) at which the water vapour in a gas condenses into ice. D/F point parameters are
functions of the pressure of the gas, but independent of temperature and are amongst the absolute
humidity measurements. In other words, dew point is the temperature at which the saturation
water vapour pressure is equal to the partial pressure of the water vapour (in an air atmosphere).
The difference between the ambient temperature and the dew point temperature is a measure of
the ambient relative humidity.

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 2. EXPERIMENT

2.1. MATERIAL

1) Methyl Acrylate

2) Potassium Bromate

3) Sodium Hydrogensulfite

4) Sodium Chloride

5) THF

6) Hydrazine Hydrate

7) TBAB

8) Ethanol

9) PSSNa

2.2. EQUIPMENT

Various equipment’s used for this experiment are listed below:

 FTIR Spectrometer
 Magnetic Stirrer
 Ohmmeter
 Thermometer

2.3. PROCEDURE

2.3 Synthesis of PMA

Methyl acrylate (17.20 g, 2.0 × 10² mmol) in 284mL of H2O was placed in a 1 L flask, and 5 mL
of potassium bromate solution (0.08 g, 0.48 mmol)followed by 5 mL of sodium hydrogensulfite

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solution (0.24 g, 2.3 mmol) was added to it. The flask was swirled to mix the contents
thoroughly, and the reaction was allowed to proceed for about 15 min. The reaction mixture was
then poured into 300 mL of sodium chloride solution (88.0 g, 1.5 × 10³ mmol) to coagulate the
polymer. It was washed with water to remove salt and unreacted monomer. The obtained PMA
was dried at ambient temperature under reduced pressure for further use.

SYNTHESIS OF PAH:
A solution of PMA (10.0 g, 0.156 mmol) in 300 mL of THF was placed in a 1 L round-bottom
flask. To it, hydrazine hydrate (38.8 g, 7.6 × 10² mmol) and TBAB (10.0 g, 31.02 mmol) were
added. The mixture was stirred at 60 °C for 12 h. The reaction mixture was cooled to room
temperature and kept undisturbed until the layers separated out. The aqueous layer was
transferred into methanol to precipitate the product polymer. The obtained white product was
washed with methanol several times to remove the low molecular weight impurities and dried
under reduced pressure at ambient temperature.

SYNTHESIS OF PSSH:
Commercial PSSNa was taken and acidified to obtain PSSH
FORMATION OF POLYELECTROLYTE COMPLEX:
Mixing of PAH (cation) and PSSNa (anion) gives us our Polyelectrolyte Complex

HUMIDITY SENSING:
1) Polyelectrolyte membrane was kept at different temperature condition.
2) Wet and dry bulb temperatures were measured for various conditions.
3) Relative Humidity was calculated from temperatures obtained.
4) Resistance of Polyelectrolyte Complex film was measured for films at various
temperature conditions with the help of ohmmeter.

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 3. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

1) The variation of resistance with relative humidity.

As Relative Humidity increases, the resistance across the polyelectrolyte complex

film decreases.

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 4.CONCLUSION

The Polyelectrolyte Complex Membrane has been prepared with

PAH as polycation and PSSH as polyanion.

Further the resistance of membrane has been measursd at

different relative humidity i.e. at different temperatures. This
study gives us the concluding idea that at high relative humidity
the resistance of the membrane is quite low.

REFERENCES:

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