Hydrophilic polyoxometalates (POM) are made surface active by coupling them to cationic amphiphilic moities to form catalytic surfactants (catasurfs). In controlled conditions this procedure results in the formation of water and organic solvent insoluble nanoparticles that show the ability to stabilize water-in-oil emulsions, the so-called Pickering emulsions. Formation of monomolecular catasurf films, and their deposition on solid substrate by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique, is also investigated. It is shown that the catalytic activity of POM is maintained in the solid state, i.e. as nanoparticle or 2D nano-crystallite in the deposited film. The supramolecular structure of catasurfs is explored by means of physical characterisation techniques such as small angle X-ray/neutron/light scattering, electron diffraction and X-ray reflectivity.

Physico-chemical and catalytic properties of polyoxometalate surfactants

244th National Meeting (2012)

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