Surfactant adsorption on metal oxides is extremely important for a variety of practical applications from detergency to surfactant-aided environmental remediationto industrial materials processing. In this study, the adsorption of ionic and nontionic surfactants was measured on high-surface area silica and alumina nanoparticles. After characterizing the adsorption behavior for the surfactant-only systems and creating adsorption isotherms, solutions were made with varying concentrations of surfactant and varying mass ratios of different sacrificial polymers. Polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) and Polydiallyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DADMAC) were tested as potential sacrificial agents on alumina and silica, respectively. Each surfactant/polymer system was allowed to reach an equilibrium adsorption on the same high surface area metal oxide that was used in creating the adsorption isotherm. The equilibrium concentrations of the surfactants were measured and surfactant adsorption as a function of polymer concentration were determined. This data was then analyzed in order to determine what, if any, effect the proposed sacrificial agent had on the equilibrium adsorption. Results indicate that both of these polymers can have a large effect on total surfactant adsorption.

Sacrificial agents for preventing ionic and nonionic surfactant adsorption on metal oxides

247th National Meeting (2014)

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