POLYELECTROLYTE-SURFACTANT COMPLEXES - HIGHLY ORDERED MICROPHASE-SEPARATED POLYMERS

Polyelectrolyte-Surfactant complexes (PE-Surfs) represent a new class of microphase-separated polymers showing a variety of phase modificati ons with a high degree of supramolecular order. The complexes are simp ly made by common precipitation from water and are easy to handle. In addition, they exhibit an exciting combination of product properties c oming from the surfactant as well as from the polyelectrolyte side. In this article, an overview of the current work on the solid-state prop erties of these materials as well as a personal outlook to future tren ds is given.