Properties of Mixed Alcohol−Zwitterionic Surfactant Films in Quaternary Water-in-Oil Microemulsions

Contrast variation small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) has been employed to study the droplet structure and adsorbed layer composition of water-in-n-octane microemulsions, stabilized by alcohol−zwitterionic surfactant (1,2-n-octanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine or PC8) mixtures. The role of coadso...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Langmuir 2003-09, Vol.19 (18), p.7219-7225
Main Authors: Bumajdad, Ali, Eastoe, Julian
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Contrast variation small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) has been employed to study the droplet structure and adsorbed layer composition of water-in-n-octane microemulsions, stabilized by alcohol−zwitterionic surfactant (1,2-n-octanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine or PC8) mixtures. The role of coadsorbed alcohol was investigated by systematically varying the chain length N alc (5, n-pentanol; 6, n-hexanol; 8, n-octanol) under conditions where the interface would be “saturated” with added alcohol. The SANS intensities are consistent with spherical nanodroplets and a progressive decrease in mixing of alcohol into the film with increasing alcohol chain length N alc. These scattering data have also been analyzed to provide estimates for film bending energies in terms of the sum of moduli 2K + K bar, which is found to be an increasing function of N alc. These results quantify the interfacial partitioning of alcohols and highlight the effects of chain length on interfacial compositions and stability.
ISSN:0743-7463
1520-5827
DOI:10.1021/la034496k