SANS Study of Poly(ethylene glycol) Solutions in D₂O

Abstract

Poly(ethylene glycol) is used for coating of colloidal particles and other surfaces for gaining biocompatibility. Particularly, it can be introduced into magnetic fluids. The aim of the current study was to reveal the structural characteristics of poly(ethylene glycol) in neat D 2 O using small-angle neutron scattering technique. Solutions of poly(ethylene glycol) (at temperature of 37 C) with different molecular weights in an interval of 400-20000 were investigated. It is concluded that at low concentrations (less than 2% of mass fraction) poly(ethylene glycol) molecules behave as Gaussian coils.