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Polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) commonly suffer from poor processability owing to their ionic crosslinking nature, a problem which spurs increasing interest in processable PECs.

Poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride)-sodium carboxymethyl cellulose polyelectrolyte complexes (PDDA-CMCNa PECs) solids were prepared and dispersed in NaOH aqueous solution. Self-assembly of PECs nanoparticles during the solvent evaporation was examined by field emission electron microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and fractal dimension analysis. It was found that tree-shaped fractal patterns formed after the solvent (water) was dried at ambient temperatures, and the fractal pattern is composed of needle-shaped PEC aggregate (PECA) nanoparticles. Time-dependent FESEM observation revealed that the fractal pattern started with the formation of initial nucleon and it is growing, during which the diffusion limited aggregation (DLA) mechanism revealed and made the pattern branched. Physical insight into the DLA mechanism was discussed in detail. Effects of PEC concentrations, PEC compositions, solvent evaporation temperatures, pH of PEC dispersion, and chemical structures of PECs on the formation of self-assembled fractal pattern were studied. Generally, it was found that the morphologies, charge characters of PEC particles, and the solvent evaporation conditions play important roles during the fractal self-assembly process.

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