Beshah K, Campbell R, Dan F, Daugs E, DeFelippis J, Gu J, Wasserman E, Young WO. Insights into the behavior of ethylene oxide-1,2-epoxybutane diblock copolymers in water as a function of temperature and the presence of colloidal silica.
J Colloid Interface Sci 2021;
581:102-111. [PMID:
32771722 DOI:
10.1016/j.jcis.2020.07.101]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2020] [Revised: 07/20/2020] [Accepted: 07/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
HYPOTHESIS
Nonionic surfactants have been widely used for many consumer products and industrial processes, and their applications often involve temperature-cycling across cloud point temperature (Tcloud). To explore the behavior of nonionic surfactants across Tcloud and when mixed with colloidal silica at a very dilute concentration around 0.1 wt%, a series of 1,2-epoxybutane-capped alcohol ethoxylates (BAEs) with various cloud points is used as a model system.
EXPERIMENTS
BAEs with cloud points from 15 to 64 °C were successfully prepared by varying the lengths of 1,2-epoxybutane (BO) and ethylene oxide (EO) blocks and their phase behavior across Tcloud was studied using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
FINDINGS
In the absence of silica, the NMR signals are not greatly affected by the cloud point transition, but both the water and surfactant exhibit a decrease in spin-spin relaxation time once the temperature reaches the Tcloud. In the presence of silica, the NMR spectra indicate significantly reduced mobility of the EO portion relative to the alkyl and BO segments. Furthermore, our results suggest that the BAE surfactants are not fractionally clouding out or precipitating with a portion of the compositional distribution during the cloud point transition.
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