Stratified Interpolyelectrolyte Complexes: Fabrication, Structure And Properties

The electrostatic Layer-by-Layer (LbL) technique allows the fabrication of polyelectrolyte multilayers that can be considered as a special type of interpolyelectrolyte complexes supported by a template (fluid or solid). The main characteristic that confers special interest to these interpolyelectrolyte complexes is the simplicity and versatility of the method used for their fabrication, although in some cases this may hide the complex influence of the different physico-chemical variables. The possibility to change ionic strength, pH, temperature, etc. and/or the composition makes possible to control the properties and structure of these systems. Furthermore, the compositional and structural richness of these systems opens multiple possibilities for the fabrication of nano-structured materials with tailored properties for numerous applications (from optical to nanomedical devices). This chapter deal with the physico-chemical background of the fabrication of supramolecular films by the LbL method as well as the key properties that should be managed in order to obtain functional materials following this approach.