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Li J, Amador C, Wilson MR. Computational predictions of interfacial tension, surface tension, and surfactant adsorption isotherms. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:12107-12120. [PMID: 38587476 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp06170a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/09/2024]
Abstract
All-atom (AA) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are employed to predict interfacial tensions (IFT) and surface tensions (ST) of both ionic and non-ionic surfactants. The general AMBER force field (GAFF) and variants are examined in terms of their performance in predicting accurate IFT/ST, γ, values for chosen water models, together with the hydration free energy, ΔGhyd, and density, ρ, predictions for organic bulk phases. A strong correlation is observed between the quality of ρ and γ predictions. Based on the results, the GAFF-LIPID force field, which provides improved ρ predictions is selected for simulating surfactant tail groups. Good γ predictions are obtained with GAFF/GAFF-LIPID parameters and the TIP3P water model for IFT simulations at a water-triolein interface, and for GAFF/GAFF-LIPID parameters together with the OPC4 water model for ST simulations at a water-vacuum interface. Using a combined molecular dynamics-molecular thermodynamics theory (MD-MTT) framework, a mole fraction of C12E6 molecule of 1.477 × 10-6 (from the experimental critical micelle concentration, CMC) gives a simulated surface excess concentration, ΓMAX, of 76 C12E6 molecules at a 36 nm2 water-vacuum surface (3.5 × 10-10 mol cm-2), which corresponds to a simulated ST of 35 mN m-1. The results compare favourably with an experimental ΓMAX of C12E6 of 3.7 × 10-10 mol cm-2 (80 surfactants for a 36 nm2 surface) and experimental ST of C12E6 of 32 mN m-1 at the CMC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Li
- Department of Chemistry, Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK.
| | - Carlos Amador
- Newcastle Innovation Centre, Procter & Gamble Ltd, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE12 9BZ, UK
| | - Mark R Wilson
- Department of Chemistry, Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK.
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2
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Ren H, Zhang B, Li H, Zhang Q. Quantitative investigation of surfactant monolayer bending tendency at an oil-polar solvent interface using DPD modeling and artificial neural networks. SOFT MATTER 2023; 19:7815-7827. [PMID: 37796103 DOI: 10.1039/d3sm00825h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/06/2023]
Abstract
The bending tendency of a surfactant monolayer at an interface is critical in determining the type of emulsion formed and the proximity of the emulsion system to its equilibrium state. Despite its importance, the influence of interaction and surfactant structure on the bending tendency has not been quantitatively investigated. In this study, we develop and validate an artificial neural network (ANN) model based on the torque densities from dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations to address this gap. With the validated ANN model, the relationship between surfactant monolayer bending tendency and all the interaction parameters, oil size, and surfactant structure (size and tail branching) was derived, from which the significance of each factor was ranked. With this ANN model, both the relationship and factor analysis can be instantly investigated without further DPD modeling. Furthermore, we expand the study to surfactant-oil-polar solvent (SOP) systems by varying the interaction parameters between polar solvents (PP). Our finding indicates that the interaction between polar solvents plays an important role in determining the bending tendency of surfactant monolayers; weaker intermolecular attraction between polar solvents makes surfactants tend to bend toward the oil phase (tend to form oil in polar solvent emulsion). Factor analysis reveals that increasing the repulsion between head-head (HH) or head-oil (HO) makes the model surfactants more polar-solvophilic, while increasing the repulsion between polar solvent-head (PH), tail-tail (TT) or oil-oil (OO) makes the model surfactants more lipophilic. The ANN model effectively reproduces the dependence of surfactant monolayer bending tendency on oil size, consistent with experimental observations, the larger the oil size, the higher the bending tendency toward the oil phase. The most intriguing insight derived from the ANN model here is that the effect of branching in the lipophilic tail will be enhanced by factors that make surfactants behave more lipophilic in a surfactant-oil-polar solvent (SOP) system, for rather polar-solvophilic surfactants, the effect of tail branching is negligible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hua Ren
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, 710072 Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Baoliang Zhang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, 710072 Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Haonan Li
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, 710072 Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
| | - Qiuyu Zhang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, 710072 Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
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Anderson RL, Gunn DSD, Taddese T, Lavagnini E, Warren PB, Bray DJ. Phase Behavior of Alkyl Ethoxylate Surfactants in a Dissipative Particle Dynamics Model. J Phys Chem B 2023; 127:1674-1687. [PMID: 36786752 PMCID: PMC9969514 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c08834] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/15/2023]
Abstract
We present a dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) model capable of capturing the liquid state phase behavior of nonionic surfactants from the alkyl ethoxylate (CnEm) family. The model is based upon our recent work [Anderson et al. J. Chem. Phys. 2017, 147, 094503] but adopts tighter control of the molecular structure by setting the bond angles with guidance from molecular dynamics simulations. Changes to the geometry of the surfactants were shown to have little effect on the predicted micelle properties of sampled surfactants, or the water-octanol partition coefficients of small molecules, when compared to the original work. With these modifications the model is capable of reproducing the binary water-surfactant phase behavior of nine surfactants (C8E4, C8E5, C8E6, C10E4, C10E6, C10E8, C12E6, C12E8, and C12E12) with a good degree of accuracy.
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Šindelka K, Kowalski A, Cooke M, Mendoza C, Lísal M. Interactions of cationic surfactant-fatty alcohol monolayers with natural human hair surface: Insights from dissipative particle dynamics. J Mol Liq 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2023.121385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/09/2023]
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A molecular study on the behavior of polyethoxylated alkyl ethers surfactants in a water/n-alkane interface. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2022.129627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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6
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Molecular Simulation Approaches to the Study of Thermotropic and Lyotropic Liquid Crystals. CRYSTALS 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/cryst12050685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Over the last decade, the availability of computer time, together with new algorithms capable of exploiting parallel computer architectures, has opened up many possibilities in molecularly modelling liquid crystalline systems. This perspective article points to recent progress in modelling both thermotropic and lyotropic systems. For thermotropic nematics, the advent of improved molecular force fields can provide predictions for nematic clearing temperatures within a 10 K range. Such studies also provide valuable insights into the structure of more complex phases, where molecular organisation may be challenging to probe experimentally. Developments in coarse-grained models for thermotropics are discussed in the context of understanding the complex interplay of molecular packing, microphase separation and local interactions, and in developing methods for the calculation of material properties for thermotropics. We discuss progress towards the calculation of elastic constants, rotational viscosity coefficients, flexoelectric coefficients and helical twisting powers. The article also covers developments in modelling micelles, conventional lyotropic phases, lyotropic phase diagrams, and chromonic liquid crystals. For the latter, atomistic simulations have been particularly productive in clarifying the nature of the self-assembled aggregates in dilute solution. The development of effective coarse-grained models for chromonics is discussed in detail, including models that have demonstrated the formation of the chromonic N and M phases.
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Ren H, Zhang Q, Zhang B, Song Q. Estimating Preferred Alkane Carbon Numbers of Nonionic Surfactants in Normalized Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Deviation Theory from Dissipative Particle Dynamics Modeling. J Phys Chem B 2022; 126:3593-3606. [PMID: 35507670 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c00943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The preferred alkane carbon number (PACN) in the normalized hydrophilic-lipophilic deviation (HLDN) theory is a numerical parameter and a transferable scale to characterize the amphiphilicity of surfactants, which is usually measured experimentally using the fish diagram or phase inversion temperature (PIT) methods, and the experimental measurement can only be applied to existing surfactants. Here, for the first time, we propose a procedure to estimate the PACN of CiEj nonionic surfactants directly from dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulation. The procedure leverages the method of moment concept to quantitatively evaluate the bending tendency of nonionic surfactant monolayers by calculating the torque density. Seven nonionic surfactants, CiEj (C6E2, C6E3, C8E3, C8E4, C10E4, C12E4, and C12E5), with known PACNs are modeled. Two surfactants, C10E4 and C6E2, were first selected to train and test the interaction parameters, and the relationship between interaction parameters and torque density was mapped for the C10E4-octane-water system using the artificial neural network (ANN) fitting approach to derive the interaction parameters giving zero torque density, then the interaction parameters were tested in the C6E2-dodecane-water system to get the final tuned interaction parameters for PACN estimation. With this procedure, we reproduce the PACN values and their trend of seven nonionic surfactants with reasonable accuracy, which opens the door for quantitative comparison of surfactant amphiphilicity and surfactant classification in silico using the PACN as a transferrable scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hua Ren
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710072, China
| | - Qiuyu Zhang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710072, China
| | - Baoliang Zhang
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710072, China
| | - Qingfei Song
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710072, China
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Kroll P, Benke J, Enders S, Brandenbusch C, Sadowski G. Influence of Temperature and Concentration on the Self-Assembly of Nonionic C iE j Surfactants: A Light Scattering Study. ACS OMEGA 2022; 7:7057-7065. [PMID: 35252696 PMCID: PMC8892478 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c06766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2021] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Nonionic poly(ethylene oxide) alkyl ether (CiEj) surfactants self-assemble into aggregates of various sizes and shapes above their critical micelle concentration (CMC). Knowledge on solution attributes such as CMC as well as aggregate characteristics is crucial to choose the appropriate surfactant for a given application, e.g., as a micellar solvent system. In this work, we used static and dynamic light scattering to measure the CMC, aggregation number (N agg), and hydrodynamic radius (R h) of four different CiEj surfactants (C8E5, C8E6, C10E6, and C10E8). We examined the influence of temperature, concentration, and molecular structure on the self-assembly in the vicinity of the CMC. A minimum in the CMC vs temperature curve was identified for all surfactants investigated. Further, extending the hydrophilic and hydrophobic chain lengths leads to an increase and decrease of the CMC, respectively. The size of the aggregates strongly depends on temperature. N agg and R h increase with increasing temperature for all surfactants investigated. Additionally, N agg and R h both increase with increasing surfactant concentration. The data obtained in this work further improve the understanding of the influence of temperature and molecular structure on the self-assembly of CiEj surfactants and will further foster their use in micellar solvent systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Kroll
- Laboratory
of Thermodynamics, Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering, TU Dortmund University, Emil-Figge-Str. 70, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
| | - Julius Benke
- Laboratory
of Thermodynamics, Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering, TU Dortmund University, Emil-Figge-Str. 70, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
| | - Sabine Enders
- Institute
for Technical Thermodynamics and Refrigeration, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Engler-Bunte-Ring 21, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Christoph Brandenbusch
- Laboratory
of Thermodynamics, Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering, TU Dortmund University, Emil-Figge-Str. 70, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
| | - Gabriele Sadowski
- Laboratory
of Thermodynamics, Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering, TU Dortmund University, Emil-Figge-Str. 70, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
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Chen IC, Lee MT. Rhamnolipid Biosurfactants for Oil Recovery: Salt Effects on the Structural Properties Investigated by Mesoscale Simulations. ACS OMEGA 2022; 7:6223-6237. [PMID: 35224385 PMCID: PMC8867548 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c06741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2021] [Accepted: 01/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Rhamnolipids (RLs) are biosurfactants produced by Pseudomonas. The biodegradability and the variety of their functionality make them suitable for environmental remediation and oil recovery. We use dissipative particle dynamics simulations to investigate the aggregation behaviors of ionic RL congeners with nonane in various operating conditions. Under zero-salinity conditions, all RL congeners studied here form small ellipsoidal clusters with detectable free surfactants. When salt ions are present, the electrostatic repulsion between the ionized heads is overcome, resulting in the formation of larger aggregates of unique structures. RLs with C10-alkyl tails tend to form elongated wormlike micelles, while RLs with C16-alkyl tails tend to form clusters in spherical symmetry, including vesicles. Di-rhamnolipids (dRLs) require stronger solvation than monorhamnolipids (mRLs) to form clusters, and the resulting size of micelles is decreased. The morphology of the mixed dRL/mRL/oil systems is controlled based on the type of the congeners and the oil contents. In addition, the divalent calcium ions are found to be influential to the structure of the micelles through different mechanisms. For 5 wt % salinity, the ionic RLs can form oil-swollen micelles up to a 1:1 surfactant-to-oil ratio, suggesting that ionic RLs are superb to act as cleaning agents for petroleum hydrocarbons in the marine area. These key findings may guide the design for RL-based washing techniques in enhanced oil recovery.
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Vishnyakov A, Mao R, Kam K, Potanin A, Neimark AV. Interactions of Crosslinked Polyacrylic Acid Polyelectrolyte Gels with Nonionic and Ionic Surfactants. J Phys Chem B 2021; 125:13817-13828. [PMID: 34905689 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c08638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The morphology and stability of surfactant-loaded polyelectrolyte gels are of great interest for a variety of personal care, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical products. However, the mechanisms of surfactant interactions with gel-forming polymers are poorly understood and experimentally challenging. The aim of this work is to explore in silico the specifics of surfactant absorption within polyelectrolyte gels drawing on the examples of typical non-ionic octaethylene glycol monooctyl ether (C8E8) and anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactants and polyacrylic acid modified with hydrophobic sidechains mimicking the practically important Carbopol polymer. Using the systematically parameterized coarse-grained dissipative particle dynamics models, we generate and characterize the equilibrium conformations and swelling of the polymer films in aqueous solutions with the surfactant concentrations varied up to the critical micelle concentration (cmc). We discover the striking difference in interactions of Carbopol-like polymers with nonionic and ionic surfactants under mildly acidic conditions. The sorption of C8E8 within the polymer film is found substantial. As the surfactant concentration increases, the polymer film swells and, close to cmc, becomes unstable due to the formation and growth of water pockets filled with surfactant micelles. Sorption of SDS at the same bulk concentrations is found much lower, with only about 1% of surfactant mass fraction achieved at cmc. As the SDS concentration increases further, a lamellae structure is formed within the film, which remains stable. Reduced swelling and higher stability indicate better prospects of using SDS-type surfactants with Carbopol-based gels in formulations for detergents and personal care products.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleksey Vishnyakov
- Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08854, United States.,Skolkovo Institute of Technology, Moscow 143005, Russia
| | - Runfang Mao
- Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08854, United States
| | - Kimberly Kam
- Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08854, United States
| | - Andrei Potanin
- Colgate-Palmolive, Piscataway, New Jersey 08855, United States
| | - Alexander V Neimark
- Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08854, United States
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Affiliation(s)
- Nilmoni Sarkar
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721302, WB India
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