Impact of carbon dioxide on the surface tension of 1-hexanol aqueous solutions

Effects of carbon dioxide presence on the surface tension and adsorption kinetics of 1-hexanol solutions were investigated. Experiments were performed at a range of carbon dioxide vapor pressures and varying concentrations of 1-hexanol aqueous solution. Both dynamic and steady-state surface tensions of 1-hexanol aqueous solution were found to decrease with carbon dioxide pressure, and a linear relationship was observed between the steady-state surface tension and carbon dioxide pressure. To explain the experiments, adsorption and desorption of the two species (1-hexanol and carbon dioxide) from two sides of the vapor-liquid interface were considered. A modified Langmuir isotherm, the modified Langmuir equation of state and the modified kinetic transfer equation were developed. The resulting steady-state and dynamic surface tension data were modeled using the modified Langmuir equation of state and the modified kinetic transfer equation, respectively. Equilibrium constants and adsorption rate constants of 1-hexanol and carbon dioxide were evaluated through a minimization procedure for CO₂ pressures ranging from 0 to 690 kPa. From the steady-state modeling, the equilibrium parameters for 1-hexanol and carbon dioxide adsorption from vapor phase and liquid phase were found unchanged at different pressures of carbon dioxide. From the dynamic modeling, the adsorption rate constants for 1-hexanol and carbon dioxide from vapor phase and liquid phase were found to decrease with carbon dioxide pressure. Some fluctuations in the fitting parameters of the dynamic modeling (adsorption rate constants) were observed. These fluctuations may be due to experimental errors, or more likely the limitations of the model used. A major limitation of the model is related to large differences in adsorption/desorption between initial and final stages of the process, and a single set of property parameters cannot describe both initial and final states of the system. Variations may occur depending on which set of data, of initial or final states, is used in the model predictions over the entire time range.     

Wetting of heterogeneous surfaces of block copolymers containing fluorinated segments

 The wetting of well-characterized heterogeneous surfaces of block copolymers has been studied by low-rate dynamic contact angle measurements using axisymmetric drop-shape analysis. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to investigate the roughness, the heterogeneity and the chemical composition of the surfaces. By changing the block length of polysulfone and semifluorinated polyester segments in the block copolymers, the surface heterogeneity of thin films prepared on silicon wafers could be controlled. Tapping-mode AFM measurements showed that soft, hydrophobic domains of varying size on the submicrometer length scale were obtained on these surfaces (60–250 nm). The mean roughness was of the order of several nanometers. The results of the contact angle measurements showed that neither roughness nor heterogeneity had a significant effect on the advancing contact angle of water, at the scale of the features present; however, the contact angle hysteresis increased with increasing percentage of the soft domains. We assume that liquid retention by the solid upon retraction of the three-phase line is the main cause for the observed increase in contact angle hysteresis. Concerning the molecular composition of these block copolymer surfaces, angle-resolved XPS analysis showed a surface segregation of fluorine within the surface region. A direct correlation was found between the fluorine content of the block copolymer surfaces and the advancing contact angle of water. Received: 26 May 2000 Accepted: 3 January 2001     

Wettability of tri-block copolymer coated hydrophobic surfaces Predictions and measurements

Hydrophobic surfaces with adsorbed tri-block copolymers are wetted by oil in spite of the hydrophilic buoy groups of the block copolymer that are present near the surface. The effect of the buoy group length of the adsorbed molecules on the wettability of hydrophobic surfaces is studied by contact angle measurements and by computer modelling.

The computer model predicts an increase in interfacial free energy with increasing buoy group length for equilibrium adsorption of block copolymer from water. Molecules with large buoy groups occupy more lateral space; therefore the “bare” surface gets more exposed and the anchor groups contribute less to the interfacial free energy which thus increases with the buoy group length.

The calculations showed that the variation of the interaction parameter between solvent and buoy group hardly influences the interfacial free energy. In contrast the interaction parameter between solvent and surface influences the interfacial free energy to a large extent because the oil/surface interactions have a lower energetic value as compared to water/surface interactions and therefore the interfacial free energy is lower than in water. The interfacial free energy varies slightly with increasing buoy group length, depending on the value chosen for the solvent/surface interaction parameter.

Advancing and receding contact angles of hexadecane, sunflower oil and hydrolysate (partly hydrolysed sunflower oil) were measured on hydrophobic surfaces. All oil/water contact angles were small, indicating a hydrophobic apolar surface character. It was found that, for oils with a “good” interaction with the surface (hexadecane and sunflower oil), the contact angle has a minimum value at a certain buoy group length. For hydrolysate (less-strong interaction with the surface) the contact angle decreases monotonically with increasing buoy group length. The results for hexadecane, sunflower oil and hydrolysate are in reasonable agreement with the model predictions. The effect of increasing buoy group length is weak; both decreasing and increasing angles are found, depending on the type of oil used.     

Improvement of interfacial tension measurement using a captive bubble in conjunction with axisymmetric drop shape analysis (ADSA)

Axisymmetric drop shape analysis (ADSA) is a method to measure surface tension using drop or bubble profiles. Combining ADSA with a captive bubble configuration (ADSA-CB) facilitates pulmonary surfactant related studies. The accuracy of ADSA-CB is crucially dependent on the quality of the bubble profile extracted from the raw image. In the previous version of ADSA-CB, a global thresholding method was used to segment the bubble profile. However, that technique is of limited accuracy for images with noise and/or lack of contrast. In this paper, a new generation of ADSA-CB using the Canny edge detector was developed. To obtain better results, a novel edge smoothing technique, termed axisymmetric liquid fluid interfaces-smoothing (ALFI-S), was introduced and incorporated with the Canny edge detector to extract bubble profiles. The performance of the new version of ADSA-CB was evaluated using captive bubble images under different conditions. The results suggest that the new methodology is capable of producing accurate surface tension values under a variety of circumstances.     

ADSA-TRIS: a new method to study interfacial phenomena at polymer–aqueous solution interfaces

Axisymmetric drop shape analysis-profile (ADSA-P) was combined with total reflectometric interference spectroscopy (TRIS) in one experimental setup to study the interfacial phenomena at solid–liquid and liquid–vapor interfaces caused by adsorption/desorption (dissolution) of surface-active substances. Using sessile liquid droplets on polymer film/chromium-coated glass substrates that were optically matched with an immersion oil to a TRIS reflection prism, the optical thickness (product of physical thickness d and refractive index n) of the polymer film can be estimated by evaluating the wavelength-dependent intensity of reflected light. The sessile droplet is analyzed simultaneously by an ADSA setup arranged in a transverse direction to the path of the white-light beam of TRIS. From this analysis, the solid–vapor interfacial tension γ _lv(t), contact angle θ(t), contact radius r(t), drop volume V(t), and solid–liquid interfacial tension γ _sl(t) can be monitored as a function of time. The new method was applied to study polystyrene and poly(4-hydroxystyrene) surfaces in contact with aqueous buffer solutions and with protein solutions. The time-dependent changes in the optical film thickness caused by the adsorption of human serum albumin (HSA) and lysozyme (LSZ) were accompanied by changes in the solid–liquid interfacial tension. From the detailed study of both parameters, conclusions can be drawn with regard to the adsorption kinetics of the proteins on the hydrophobic polystyrene surfaces and to conformational changes occurring within the adsorbed protein layers. Figure Photo of the ADSA-TRIS setup     

Novel method to characterize the hydrolytic decomposition of biopolymer surfaces

Present pharmaceutical research is focused on the development, modification and characterisation of new drug delivery systems. Among the many different substances, biodegradable polymers and copolymers are of practical importance, especially if their degradation byproducts are non-toxic. The polymeric drug carriers are not easily wettable by water or aqueous solutions, i.e. they are hydrophobic. This surface hydrophobicity is unfavourable for keeping drug carriers circulating in the blood long enough to release the drug so that it reaches its target. Therefore, copolymers with components of different hydrophobicity were introduced, to make them less hydrophobic and hence more suitable for drug delivery in the human body. Exploratory experiments with one homopolymer, , -poly(lactic acid), , -PLA and two of its copolymers, , -poly(lactic/glycolic acid), and , -PLGA with 85/15 and 50/50 copolymer ratios were carried out. Films of these substances were prepared by dip coating onto hydrophobic and hydrophilic substrates. The changes in wettability of the polymer layers, caused by the direct contact with an aqueous environment (soaking the samples in distilled water), have been studied to model the hydrolytic decomposition of polymer surfaces and to follow the changes in their wettability by dynamic contact angle measurements in a non-destructive manner. It was found that each polymer film became less hydrophobic (dynamic contact angles decreased) and more heterogeneous as the decomposition progressed with time. Increasingly significant decreases in contact angles were observed for the copolymer films containing 15 and 50% glycolic acid, during the 50–80-day-long study. These findings were supported by gel chromatographic analysis of the soaking liquids. It was concluded that the homopolymer layer of , -PLA was the most resistant to hydrolysis and the stability of copolymer films decreased with increasing glycolic acid ratio in the copolymers. This is accordance with the fact that the less crystalline poly(glycolic acid) is more hydrophilic and hence less resistant to hydrolytic decomposition, than the poly(lactic acid). The effect of pH on the rate of hydrolysis of polymer films was also established; the influence of pH on the decomposition was best demonstrated, again, for the copolymer with 50/50 component ratio. The outcome of these experiments showed that the contact angle measuring method enables us to detect, follow and interpret the hydrolytic decomposition of biopolymer substances in a non-invasive manner.     

Quantitative analysis of biodegradable amphiphilic poly(L-lactide)-block-poly(ethyleneglycol)-blockpoly(L-lactide) by using TG, FTIR and NMR

The thermogravimetric analysis (TG) of two series of tri-block copolymers based on poly(L,L-lactide) (PLLA) and poly(ethyleneglycol) (PEG) segments, having molar mass of 4000 or 600 g mol^–1, respectively, is reported. The prepared block copolymers presented wide range of molecular masses (800 to 47500 g mol^–1) and compositions (16 to 80 mass% PEG). The thermal stability increased with the PLLA and/or PEG segment size and the tri-block copolymers prepared from PEG 4000 started to decompose at higher temperatures compared to those copolymers from PEG 600. The copolymers compositions were determined by thermogravimetric analysis and the results were compared to other traditional quantitative spectroscopic methods, hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry (¹HNMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR). The PEG 4000 copolymer compositions calculated by TG and by ¹HNMR, presented differences of 1%, demonstrating feasibility of using thermogravimetric analysis for quantitative purposes.     

One‐step synthesis of poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid)‐g‐poly‐1‐vinylpyrrolidin‐2‐one copolymers

The radical polymerization of 1‐vinylpyrrolidin‐2‐one (NVP) in poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) (PLGA) 50:50 at 100 °C leads to amphiphilic PLGA‐g‐PVP copolymers. Their composition is determined by FT‐IR spectroscopy. Thermogravimetric analyses agree with FT‐IR determinations. Saponification of the PLGA‐g‐PVP polyester portion allows isolating the PVP side chains and measuring their molecular weight, from which the average chain transfer constant (C_T) of the PLGA units is estimated. The MALDI‐TOF spectra of PVP reveal the presence at one chain end of residues of either glycolic acid‐ or lactic acid‐ or lactic/glycolic acid dimers, trimers and one tetramer, the other terminal being hydrogen. This unequivocally demonstrates that grafting occurred. Accordingly, the orthogonal solvent pair ethyl acetate—methanol, while separating the components of PLGA/PVP intimate mixtures, fails to separate pure PVP or PLGA from the reaction products. All PLGA‐g‐PVP and PLGA/PLGA‐g‐PVP blends, but not PLGA/PVP blends, give long‐time stable dispersions in water. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 1919–1928     

The effect of glycolic acid monomer ratio on the emulsifying activity of PLGA in preparation of protein-loaded SLN

Our previous work demonstrated that lactic/glycolic acid copolymer (PLGA) was an efficient emulsifier for the primary w/o emulsion in the formulation of protein-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) by w/o/w double emulsion-solvent evaporation technique. In this work, the effect of PLGA composition on the emulsifying activity was studied with PLGA of different lactic/glycolic acid ratios (90/10, 75/25, 50/50). The results demonstrated that the glycolic acid monomer ratio significantly affected the emulsifying activity of PLGA. Increasing the glycolic acid monomer ratio from 10% to 50% decreased the minimum PLGA content needed to produce stable w/o emulsions. With same PLGA contents, increase of the glycolic acid monomer ratio increased the stable time of the w/o emulsion, yielded smaller and narrower-distributed SLN, and enhanced the encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity.     

Studies of the wetting kinetics of liquid drops on solid surfaces

The viscosity _L and the surface tension _L of the liquid as well as the equilibrium contact angle _e are essential parameters governing the wetting kinetics of liquids on solids. By means of a contact angle apparatus with video image digitization, the dynamic contact angle and the radiusr of the contact area of sessile drops on solid surfaces have simultaneously been determined in dependence on time after drop application between about 3·10^–2 s and long times.The measurements were performed with series of liquids: polydimethylsiloxanes with different molecular masses and solutions of polyisobutylene in decalin and polyacrylic acid in water, covering a wide range of concentrations. The liquids in each series have a constant surface tension, but viscosities ranging over about four orders of magnitude, allowing the influence of _L and _L to be studied independently. Solids such as glass, polyethylene and polytetrafluoroethylene were chosen so that the cases of complete wetting (spreading) and partial wetting ( _e) could be studied.The curves of cos andr/R ₀ vs. time for the different liquids of a series can be superimposed to a master curve by plotting them against _L·t _L·R ₀, whereR ₀ is the radius of the original drop. All these master curves coincide at small wetting times, with exception of the data for the polysiloxanes. That means that the early stage of the wetting process is determined only by the properties of the wetting liquid. The influence of the solid surface, characterized by the equilibrium contact angle _e becomes significant only at the end of the wetting process.Dedicated to Professor Dr. H. Willersinn on the occasion of his 65^th birthday     

Surface Energy and Wettability of Plasma-treated Polyacrylonitrile Fibers

Polyacrylonitrile fibers were treated with a nitrogen glow-discharge plasma. The surfaces of untreated and treated fibers were examined with contact angle measurements, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Surface energy calculations of the fibers were carried out from contact angle measurements using the relationships developed by Fowkes. It is found that plasma treatment causes a reduction in water contact angle on the fiber surfaces. The dispersion component of surface energy changes slightly, while the polar component is increased significantly from 14.6 mN/m to 58.7 mN/m and the total surface energy increase is 139%. The increase of surface energy is mainly caused by the introduction of hydrophilic groups on the fiber surfaces after plasma treatment.     

Dimethyltitanocene-induced surface chemical degradation of synthetic biodegradable polyesters

The purpose of this research was to selectively alter the rate of surface degradation of linear aliphatic polyesters without adversely affecting their bulk properties by way of functional group transformation, where the surface ester linkages would be converted to vinyl ether functionalities with dimethyltitanocene. It has been observed that dimethyl titanocene causes surface degradation of poly (glycolic acid) without adversely affecting its bulk properties, such as M_v, bursting strength, and thermal properties The vinvl ether resulting from the conversion of the PGA ester groups was unstable under ambient conditions, and further reacted by polymer chain scissioning, as was observed from measurements of molecular weight. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

聚乳酸与聚乳酸-羟基乙酸多孔细胞支架的制备及孔隙的表征

应用溶液烧铸致孔剂浸出技术制备了不同致孔剂用量与不同致孔剂颗粒尺寸条件下的一系列聚乳酸及不同组成的聚乳酸－羟基乙酸多孔细胞支架;用一种改进的方法－重量法测定其孔隙率;在聚乳酸－羟基乙酸多孔支架上进行了软骨细胞培养。研究结果表明,随着制备过程中致孔剂用量的增加,多孔支架的孔隙逐渐增加,而与致孔剂的颗粒大小基本无关;致孔剂的颗粒大小只影响多孔支架的孔径;在致孔剂用量及致孔剂颗粒尺寸都相同的情况下,随着共聚物中乙交酯含量的增加,孔隙率逐渐下降;软骨细胞在支架上繁殖情况良好,三周后已开始分泌细胞外基质。     

A method for correcting the contact angle from the θ/2 method

The θ/2 method, a widely used technique on measuring the contact angle of a sessile drop, assumes that the drop profile is part of a sphere. However, the shape profile of a sessile drop is governed by the Young–Laplace equation and is different from a sphere, especially for drops with a large bound number (e.g. large volume or small surface tension). The spherical assumption, therefore, causes errors on evaluating the contact angles. The deviation of contact angle from the θ/2 method is evaluated from a theoretical calculation in this work. A simple means is given for correcting the measurement error. The corrected angle results from the drop volume, surface tension, liquid density and the contact angle from θ/2 method. An algorithm for finding the correct contact angle without knowing the density and surface tension is also given. At the end, two examples of pendant drops are given for the illustration.     

Effect of Pluronic F127 on the pore structure of macrocellular biodegradable polylactide foams

Thermally induced phase separation technique was utilized to fabricate biodegradable poly(l ‐lactic acid) (PLLA) macrocellular foams which were capable of being applied in tissue engineering. The block copolymer Pluronic F127 composed of (polyethyleneoxide)‐(polypropyleneoxide)‐(polyethyleneoxide) [(PEO)‐(PPO)‐(PEO)] was used as a porogen. Water/dioxane mixtures with different volume ratios were used as solvents. The addition of Pluronic F127 could induce an appearance of large pores (50–200 μm) besides small pores (10–20 μm) or a change from a solid–liquid phase separation to a liquid–liquid phase separation. The role of Pluronic F127 depends on the water/dioxane ratios in the PLLA/dioxane/water system. The X‐ray diffraction patterns and porosity measurement results showed that Pluronic F127 was crystallized and existed on the pore wall. The effect of Pluronic F127 on changing pore structure is attributed to the occurrence of the interaction of the lipophilic PPO blocks in Pluronic F127 with PLLA clews, consequently, this results in PLLA aggregation and early phase separation on cooling. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Calculating the surface tension between a flat solid and a liquid: a theoretical and computer simulation study of three topologically different methods

We discuss three topologically different methods for calculating the surface tension between a flat solid and a liquid from theoretical and computer simulation viewpoints. The first method, commonly used in experiments, measures the contact angle at which a static droplet of liquid rests on a solid surface. We present a new analysis algorithm for this method and explore the effects of line tension on the contact angle. The second method, commonly used computer simulations, uses the pressure tensor through the virial in a system where a thick, infinitely extended slab of liquid rests on a solid surface. The third method, which is original to this paper and is closest to the thermodynamic definition of surface tension, applies to a spherical solid in contact with liquid in which the flat solid is recovered by extrapolating the sphere radius to infinity. We find that the second and third methods agree with each other, while the first method systematically underestimates surface tension values.     

Study of molecular interactions between lipids and proteins using dynamic surface tension measurements: a review

Molecular interactions between small molecules and proteins, such as binding of lipids to proteins, are of fundamental importance in various biological processes. A recently-developed method based on dynamic surface tension measurement is efficient and versatile in detecting such molecular interactions: Axisymmetric Drop Shape Analysis (ADSA) provides a tool for measuring the surface tension (γ) response to surface area changes. Through the analysis of the γ response pattern, surface competitive adsorption between small organic molecules and protein molecules can be detected. Surface squeeze-out of small molecules by proteins can also be observed. Molecular binding of lipids to proteins manifests itself in a modification of the γ response which is not compatible with a simple superposition of the two individual patterns. The specific binding can be studied in terms of dose effects and specificity.     

苄基取代甜菜碱对聚四氟乙烯表面润湿性的影响

利用座滴法研究了两性离子表面活性剂苄基取代烷基羧基甜菜碱(BCB)和苄基取代烷基磺基甜菜碱(BSB)在聚四氟乙烯(PTFE)表面上的润湿性质,考察了表面活性剂浓度对接触角的影响趋势,并讨论了粘附张力、固-液界面张力和粘附功的变化规律.研究发现,在低浓度时,表面活性剂通过疏水作用吸附到PTFE表面,疏水链苄基取代支链化使其在固-液界面上的吸附明显低于气-液界面,接触角在很大的范围内保持不变.当体相浓度增加到大于临界胶束浓度(cmc)时, BCB和BSB分子在固-液界面上继续吸附,分子逐渐直立,造成PTFE-液体之间的界面张力(γ_SL)进一步降低,表面亲水性增加,接触角随浓度增加明显降低;另一方面, BSB由于具有较大的极性头,在高浓度时空间阻碍作用明显,导致其对PTFE表面润湿性改变程度小于BCB.     

低温等离子体处理聚酯(PET)表面润湿性与表面结构的研究

研究了O₂、N₂、He、Ar、H₂和CH₄气体低温等离子体改性聚酯(PET)的表面润湿性与表面结构的关系.用已知表面张力的液体测定接触角,作Zisman曲线,求得试样的临界表面张力γ_c;并按扩展的Fowkes式计算试样的表面张力γ_s及其三组分值γ_s^a(色散力)、γ_s^c(偶极矩力)和γ(氢键力),发现经O₂、N₂、He和Ar等离子体短时间处理的聚酯表面自由能显著增大,表面润湿性增强,主要是聚酯表面张力的氢键力成分的贡献,X射线光电子能谱分析表明,这是由于聚酯表面含氧或含氮极性基团增加所致.     

Evaluation of the surface tension measurement of axisymmetric drop shape analysis (ADSA) using a shape parameter

A quantitative criterion called “shape parameter” to evaluate the quality of surface tension measurement of Axisymmetric Drop Shape Analysis (ADSA) is presented. ADSA is a powerful technique for the measurement of interfacial tensions and contact angles of pendant drops, sessile drops, and bubbles. Despite the general success of ADSA, deficient results may be obtained for drops close to spherical shape. Therefore, the “shape parameter” was used to determine the range of drop shapes in which ADSA succeeds or fails. The “shape parameter” is a dimensionless parameter that expresses quantitatively the difference in shape between a given experimental profile and an inscribed circle. The surface tension measurements of ADSA were evaluated for both pendant drop and constrained sessile drop configurations using the shape parameter. Different shapes of the pendant drop were studied using different sizes and materials of holders. For each drop configuration, a “critical shape parameter” was defined based on the minimum value of the shape parameter that guarantees an error of less than ±0.1 mJ/m². Furthermore, the effects of the type of liquid and constellation on the “critical shape parameter” were studied.