Cationic ester-containing gemini surfactants: Adsorption at tailor-made surfaces monitored by SPR and QCM
Journal article, 2008

Adsorption of a series of ester-containing cationic surfactants at a surface containing 90% methyl groups and 10% carboxyl groups was studied by two surface analysis techniques, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). Such a surface, which is at the same time hydrophobic and negatively charged, is of interest as a model for many polymeric surfaces. Two different types of ester gemini surfactants and their monomeric counterparts were included together with nonester containing surfactants of similar structure. The results show that the gemini surfactants give the same adsorbed amount at the surface as the monomeric surfactants when compared at the same bulk concentration normalized to the critical micelle concentration (cmc) in bulk. Since the cmc of the geminis is around 20 times lower than the cmc of the corresponding monomeric surfactants, the gemini surfactants are much more effective in covering the surface. The two techniques gave similar relative values but the QCM values were always higher than those from SPR, which is due to the former method taking also adsorbed water into account. The adsorption, as measured by both methods, was found to follow closely the Langmuir adsorption model.

Author

Ali Tehrani

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Applied Surface Chemistry

Krister Holmberg

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Applied Surface Chemistry

Langmuir

07437463 (ISSN) 15205827 (eISSN)

Vol. 24 12 6140-6145

Subject Categories

Chemical Engineering

Other Chemistry Topics

DOI

10.1021/la800009b

More information

Created

10/6/2017