Self-consistent field modeling of adsorption from polymer/surfactant mixtures

We report on the development of a self-consistent field model that describes the competitive adsorption of nonionic alkyl-(ethylene oxide) surfactants and nonionic polymer poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) from aqueous solutions onto silica. The model explicitly describes the response to the pH and the ionic strength. On an inorganic oxide surface such as silica, the dissociation of the surface depends on the pH. However, salt ions can screen charges on the surface, and hence, the number of dissociated groups also depends on the ionic strength. Furthermore, the solvent quality for the EO groups is a function of the ionic strength. Using our model, we can compute bulk parameters such as the average size of the polymer coil and the surfactant CMC. We can make predictions on the adsorption behavior of either polymers or surfactants, and we have made adsorption isotherms, i.e., calculated the relationship between the surface excess and its corresponding bulk concentration. When we add both polymer and surfactant to our mixture, we can find a surfactant concentration (or, more precisely, a surfactant chemical potential) below which only the polymer will adsorb and above which only the surfactant will adsorb. The corresponding surfactant concentration is called the CSAC. In a first-order approximation, the surfactant chemical potential has the CMC as its upper bound. We can find conditions for which CMC < CSAC . This implies that the chemical potential that the surfactant needs to adsorb is higher than its maximum chemical potential, and hence, the surfactant will not adsorb. One of the main goals of our model is to understand the experimental data from one of our previous articles. We managed to explain most, but unfortunately not all, of the experimental trends. At the end of the article we discuss the possibilities for improving the model.     

Monte Carlo study of surfactant adsorption on heterogeneous solid surfaces

The equilibrium between free surfactant molecules in aqueous solution and adsorbed layers on structured solid surfaces is investigated by lattice Monte Carlo simulation. The solid surfaces are composed of hydrophilic and hydrophobic surface regions. The structures of the surfactant adsorbate above isolated surface domains and domains arranged in a checkerboard-like pattern are characterized. At the domain boundary, the adsorption layers display a different behavior for hydrophilic and hydrophobic surface domains. For the checkerboard-like surfaces, additional adsorption takes place at the boundaries between surface domains.     

Restructuring of hydrophobic surfaces created by surfactant adsorption to mica surfaces

Hydrophobic surfaces created by the adsorption of a monolayer of surfactants, such as CTAB or DODAB, to mica display long-range mutual attraction when placed in water. Initially, this attraction was considered to be due to hydrophobic interaction, but more careful measurements using AFM showed that the surfactant monolayer undergoes rearrangements to produce charged patches on the surface; therefore, the nature of the long-range interaction is due to the electrostatic interaction between patches. The monolayer rearrangement depends on the nature of the surfactant and its counterion. To study possible monolayer rearrangements in molecular detail, we performed detailed molecular dynamics computer simulations on systems containing a monolayer of surfactants RN(CH(3))(3)(+)Cl(-) (R indicates a saturated hydrocarbon chain) adsorbed on a mica surface and immersed in water. We observe that when chain R is 18 carbons long the monolayer rearranges into a micelle but it remains a monolayer when the chain contains 24 carbons.     

Surface-induced phase behavior of polymer/nanoparticle blends with attractions

In an athermal blend of nanoparticles and homopolymer near a hard wall, there is a first order phase transition in which the nanoparticles segregate to the wall and form a densely packed monolayer above a certain nanoparticle density. Previous investigations of this phase transition employed a fluids density functional theory (DFT) at constant packing fraction. Here we report further DFT calculations to probe the robustness of this phase transition. We find that the phase transition also occurs in athermal systems at constant pressure, the more natural experimental condition than constant packing fraction. Adding nanoparticle-polymer attractions increases the nanoparticle transition density, while sufficiently strong attractions suppress the first-order transition entirely. In this case the systems display a continuous transition to a bulk layered state. Adding attractions between the polymers and the wall has a similar effect of delaying and then suppressing the first-order nanoparticle segregation transition, but does not lead to any continuous phase transitions.     

Competitive adsorption of nonionic surfactant and nonionic polymer on silica

Competitive adsorption of the nonionic polymer poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and the nonionic surfactant of the type poly(ethylene oxide) alkyl ether from aqueous solutions on a silica surface is examined. From one-component solutions, both species readily adsorb onto silica and, in the bulk of mixed (two-component) solutions, polymer-surfactant complexes are not observed. Because both species bind by the same mechanism to silica, subtle differences in layer structure, or other species-specific parameters, determine whether one or both of the species will adsorb. It was found that various surfactants can displace PEO up to a certain critical molecular weight. Surfactants with a high aggregation number, in bulk and on the surface, can displace PEO with a higher molar mass than surfactants with a low aggregation number. As the molar mass of the polymer increases, the time a surfactant needs to completely displace the polymer increases. We can explain both the existence of the critical molar mass and the decrease in adsorption kinetics with a shift in the critical surface association concentration (CSAC).     

Unusual wetting dynamics of aqueous surfactant solutions on polymer surfaces

Static and dynamic contact angles of aqueous solutions of three surfactants--anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cationic dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), and nonionic pentaethylene glycol monododecyl ether (C(12)E(5))--were measured in the pre- and micellar concentration ranges on polymer surfaces of different surface free energy. The influence of the degree of substrate hydrophobicity, concentration of the solution, and ionic/nonionic character of surfactant on the drop spreading was investigated. Evaporation losses due to relatively low humidity during measurements were taken into account as well. It was shown that, in contrast to the highly hydrophobic surfaces, contact angles for ionic surfactant solutions on the moderately hydrophobic surfaces strongly depend on time. As far as the nonionic surfactant is considered, it spreads well over all the hydrophobic polymer surfaces used. Moreover, the results obtained indicate that spreading (if it occurs) in the long-time regime is controlled not only by the diffusive transport of surfactant to the expanding liquid-vapor interface. Obviously, another process involving adsorption at the expanding solid-liquid interface (near the three-phase contact line), which goes more slowly than diffusion, has to be active.     

Kinetic aspects of polymer and polyelectrolyte adsorption on surfaces

The behavior of polymers adsorbed on a single surface or bridging two surfaces is fairly well understood when thermodynamic equilibrium conditions prevail. The work of Nobel prize winner, P.G. de Gennes, to whom the papers in this issue of Advances in Colloid and Interface Science are dedicated, has greatly contributed to this field. Useful as this knowledge is, in practise many situations are encountered in which polymer adsorption is not thermodynamically but kinetically controlled. In this paper we discuss various aspects of non-equilibrium polymer and polyelectrolyte adsorption, based on recent experimental findings. The discussion of these aspects is mainly qualitative, since we are still far from a detailed quantitative theory of the kinetics of polymer adsorption. Many of the examples are relevant to the chemistry of papermaking.     

Equilibrium surface adsorption behavior in complex anionic/nonionic surfactant mixtures

Neutron reflectivity (NR) and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) have been used to investigate the equilibrium surface adsorption behavior and the solution microstructure of mixtures of the anionic surfactant sodium 6-dodecyl benzene-4 sulfonate (SDBS) with the nonionic surfactants monododecyl octaethylene glycol (C12EO8) and monododecyl triiscosaethylene glycol (C12EO23). In the SDBS/C12EO8 and SDBS/C12EO23 solutions, small globular mixed micelles are formed. However, the addition of Ca2+ ions to SDBS/C12EO8 results in a transition to a vesicle phase or a mixed vesicle/micellar phase for SDBS rich compositions. In contrast, this transition hardly exists for the SDBS/C12EO23 mixture, and occurs only in a narrow composition region which is rich in SDBS. The adsorption of the SDBS/C12EO8 mixture at the air-solution interface is in the form of a mixed monolayer, with a composition variation that is not consistent with ideal mixing. In water and in the presence of NaCl, the nonideality can be broadly accounted for by regular solution theory (RST). At solution compositions rich in SDBS, the addition of Ca2+ ions results in the formation of multilayer structures at the interface. The composition range over which multilayer formation exists depends upon the Ca2+ concentration added. In comparison, the addition of a simple monovalent electrolyte, NaCl, at the same ionic strength does not have the same impact upon the adsorption, and the surface structure remains as a monolayer. Correspondingly, in solution, the mixed surfactant aggregates remain as relatively small globular micelles. In the presence of Ca2+ counterions, the variation in surface composition with solution composition is not well described by RST over the entire composition range. Furthermore, the mixing behavior is not strongly correlated with variations in the solution microstructure, as observed in other related systems.     

Surfactant adsorption on solid surfaces: recognition between heterogeneous surfaces and adsorbed surfactant aggregates

We study the possibility of the recognition of surface heterogeneities with surfactant adsorption by performing Monte Carlo simulations. It is found that when each patch size of a heterogeneous surface is capable of being commensurate with the size of aggregates adsorbed on the constituent homogeneous surfaces, the adsorption isotherm of the system will display both adsorption characteristics for each homogeneous surface. Otherwise, one or more adsorption characteristics will be spoiled or destroyed. Therefore, the adsorption isotherm of surfactants on a heterogeneous surface provides a signal of recognition.     

Dynamic adsorption of weakly interacting polymer/surfactant mixtures at the air/water interface

The dynamic adsorption of polymer/surfactant mixtures containing poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) with either tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (C(14)TAB) or sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) has been studied at the expanding air/water interface created by an overflowing cylinder, which has a surface age of 0.1-1 s. The composition of the adsorption layer is obtained by a new approach that co-models data obtained from ellipsometry and only one isotopic contrast from neutron reflectometry (NR) without the need for any deuterated polymer. The precision and accuracy of the polymer surface excess obtained matches the levels achieved from NR measurements of different isotopic contrasts involving deuterated polymer, and requires much less neutron beamtime. The PEO concentration was fixed at 100 ppm and the electrolyte concentration at 0.1 M while the surfactant concentration was varied over three orders of magnitude. For both systems, at low bulk surfactant concentrations, adsorption of the polymer is diffusion-controlled while surfactant adsorption is under mixed kinetic/diffusion control. Adsorption of PEO is inhibited once the surfactant coverage exceeds 2 μmol m(-2). For PEO/C(14)TAB, polymer adsorption drops abruptly to zero over a narrow range of surfactant concentration. For PEO/SDS, inhibition of polymer adsorption is much more gradual, and a small amount remains adsorbed even at bulk surfactant concentrations above the cmc. The difference in behavior of the two mixtures is ascribed to favorable interactions between the PEO and SDS in the bulk solution and at the surface.     

On the mechanism of surfactant adsorption on solid surfaces: free-energy investigations

The adsorption free-energy of surfactant on solid surfaces has been calculated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation for a model surfactant/solvent system. The umbrella-sampling with the weight histogram analysis method (WHAM) was applied. The entropic and enthalpic contributions to the full potential of mean force (PMF) were obtained to evaluate the detailed thermodynamics of surfactant adsorption in solid/liquid interfaces. Although we observed that this surfactant adsorption process is driven mainly by a favorable enthalpy change, a highly unfavorable entropic contribution still existed. By decomposing the free energy (including its entropic and enthalpic components) into the solvent-induced contribution and the surfactant-wall term, the effect of surface and solvent on the adsorption free-energy has been distinguished. The contribution to the PMF from the surface effect is thermodynamically favorable, whereas the solvent term displays an obviously unfavorable component with a monotonic increase as the surfactant approaches to the surface. The impact of various interactions from the surfaces (both solvent-philic and solvent-phobic) and the solvent on the adsorption PMF of surfactant has been compared and discussed. Compared to the solvent-philic surface, the solvent-phobic surface generates more stable site for the surfactant adsorption. However, the full PMF profile for the solvent-phobic system shows a clear positive maximum value at the bulk-interface transition region, which leads to a considerable long-range free-energy barrier to the surfactant adsorption. These results have been analyzed in terms of the local interfacial structures. In summary, this comprehensive study is expected to reveal the microscopic interaction mechanisms determining the surfactant adsorption on solid surfaces.     

Comparative study of adsorption and heats of adsorption on planar and particulate polymer surfaces

The adsorption and heats of adsorption of Lewis acidic-basicprobes on planar and particulate surfaces of polyimide/siloxane, 6F photoimagable fluorinated polyimide and 6F polyimide have been studied by flow microcalorimetric, ellipsometric, and contact angle techniques. The heats of adsotption obtained by these techniques are in good agreement. It is noted that the ellipsometric method based on an analysis of adsorption kinetics has advantages over the contact angle technique and may be used for the study of the interface on planar polymer surfaces. The acidic-basic properties of polymers were approximately estimated by using the DragoE andC constants.     

A model for the cooperative adsorption of surfactant mixtures on solid surfaces

Adsorption of surfactant mixtures on solids is of considerable theoretical and practical importance. In this study, cooperative adsorption of surfactant mixtures of nonyl phenol ethoxylated decyl ether (NP-10) and n-dodecyl-beta-D-maltoside (DM) on silica and alumina has been investigated as a function of the distribution of individual surfactants between solution and solid surface. In the mixed adsorption process, DM is identified to be the "active" adsorbing component and NP is the "passive" co-adsorbing one in the process of adsorption on alumina, while their roles are reversed on silica. A modified model has been proposed to quantify the adsorption behavior of surfactant mixtures and to obtain information in terms of aggregation number and standard free energy for surface aggregation. This model is the first model applied to the aggregation of the surfactant mixture at the solid/solution interfaces.     

Scaling behavior of adsorption on patchwise bivariate surfaces revisited

The adsorption of gases on patchwise heterogeneous bivariate surfaces is studied. These surfaces are characterized by a collection of strong and weak adsorbing patches with a typical length scale l. Different forms and spatial arrangements of these patches determine different topographies characterized by an effective length, l(eff) = sigmal, where sigma takes values from 1 to 4 for the different topographies considered here. Previous studies showed that the mean square deviation between isotherms corresponding to different values of l(eff) scaled as a power law with exponent alpha, without providing any physical interpretation of such behavior. In the present work, we introduce a different scaling function, chi(l), which is shown to be twice the difference in free energy per site between a reference isotherm and the given isotherm, at half coverage. With this function the scaling behavior and the value of the scaling exponent alpha are determined over the whole range of interparticles interaction energy and adsorptive energy, and for different temperatures, through Monte Carlo simulations. The results are similar to those obtained in previous studies, with a value of alpha which is half the one obtained before due to the different definition of the scaling function, but the present analysis provides a full understanding of the scaling behavior based on the physical significance of the scaling function and the scaling exponent.     

Association and segregation in aqueous polymer/polymer,polymer/surfactant,and surfactant/surfactant mixtures: similarities and differences

Recent experimental findings on the phase behaviour of aqueous polymer/surfactant mixtures are reviewed and compared with the phase behaviour of “analogous” polymer/polymer or surfactant/surfactant mixtures, which is also reviewed. Polyelectrolyte effects are given special consideration. Attention is drawn to the polymer aspect of a surfactant aggregate, and, also, to the surfactant aspect of an hydrophobe-modified polymer. It is proposed that a consideration of these aspects should be helpful in predicting the phase behaviour of polymer/surfactant mixtures.     

Influence of DNA adsorption and DNA/cationic surfactant coadsorption on the interaction forces between hydrophobic surfaces

The forces between hydrophobic surfaces with physisorbed DNA are markedly and irreversibly altered by exposure to DNA/cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) mixtures. In this colloidal probe atomic force microscopy study of the interactions between a hydrophobic polystyrene particle and an octadecyltrimethylethoxysilane-modified mica surface in sodium bromide solutions, we measure distinct changes in colloidal forces depending on the existence and state of an adsorbed layer of DNA or CTAB-DNA complexes. For bare hydrophobic surfaces, a monotonically attractive approach curve and very large adhesion are observed. When DNA is adsorbed at low bulk concentrations, a long-range repulsive force dominates the approach, but on retraction some adhesion persists and DNA bridging is clearly observed. When the DNA solution is replaced with a CTAB-DNA mixture at relative low CTAB concentration, the length scale of the repulsive force decreases, the adhesion due to hydrophobic interactions greatly decreases, and bridging events disappear. Finally, when the surface is rinsed with NaBr solution, the length scale of the repulsive interaction increases modestly, and only a very tiny adhesion remains. These pronounced changes in the force behavior are consistent with CTAB-induced DNA compaction accompanied by increased DNA adsorption, both of which are partially irreversible.     

Modeling of confinement-induced phase transitions for surfactant layers on amphiphilic surfaces

A self-consistent field model is used to consider a solution of positively charged surfactants up to its critical micellization concentration adsorbing onto two surfaces in close proximity. Each surface mimics a polystyrene sulfonate interface; that is, hydrophobic properties are combined with a (fixed) negative charge. We observe large and sudden changes in adsorption as a function of separation, which are not normally considered when interpreting surface force measurements. The parameters are chosen such that the adsorbed surfactant layer is of a monolayer type when the surfaces are far apart. A typical interaction curve is presented for a fixed surfactant chemical potential, which is extracted from the set of adsorption isotherms each with a fixed slit width. When the slit width approaches the thickness of the two surfactant layers, a first-order phase transition takes place, which is driven by the unfavorable hydrophobic-water contacts. At the transition, the average orientation of the surfactants switches from a high concentration of tails at the surface to a bilayer configuration where tail profiles from both sides merge in the center. The headgroups are pulled slightly away from the surface. The interaction force jumps from a weak electrostatic repulsion at large distances (two effectively positively charged surface layers repel each other) to a strong electrostatic attraction at short distances (the central surfactant bilayer is attracted to the oppositely charged surfaces). The amount of adsorbed surfactants tend to decrease with decreasing distance between the surfaces but suddenly increases at the transition. Because of this, we anticipate that in surface force experiments, for example, there is a hysteresis associated with this transition: the forces and also the adsorbed amounts depend not only on the distance between the surfaces but also on the history if nonsufficient equilibration times are implemented.     

FTIR-ATR-spectroscopic analysis of the protein adsorption on polymer blood contact surfaces

Summary Model experiments have been carried out in a flow-through attenuated total reflectance (ATR-) cell mounted in a Fourier Transform Infrared- (FTIR-) spectrometer to study in situ the adsorption of some important blood proteins on several organic and inorganic surfaces from D₂O-solutions. The model compounds used were fibrinogen, albumine and ₁-acid glycoprotein as well as polystyrene, polyetherurethane and germanium (the material of the ATR-prism).The intensities of the amide I bands of the respective adsorbed proteins were in the 10 m AU-range and have been plotted as a function of contact time between solution and surface for different reaction conditions. (Isolated, ground and negatively charged surfaces, before and after rinsing with D₂O, different pD-values.) From the data it was concluded, that the proteins adsorb in two layers, the first, irreversibly bound within a few seconds to minutes and the second build up slowly. This second layer could be removed by application of negative charge (–9 V) in the case of fibrinogen on polystyrene, and to a lesser extend for albumine and ₁-acid glycoprotein but not by rinsing with D₂O. From these IR spectra of fibrinogen, structural changes upon buildings up and desorption of the second layer as compared to the first could be derived.

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FTIR-ATR spektroskopische Analyse der Proteinadsorption an polymeren Blutkontaktoberflächen

Zusammenfassung In einem mit einer ATR-Durchflußzelle ausgestatteten Fourier-Transformations-Infrarotspektrometer wurden Modellexperimente zum In-situ-Studium der Adsorption einiger wichtiger Blutproteine an verschiedenen organischen und anorganischen Oberflächen aus D₂O-Lösung durchgeführt. Als Modellsubstanzen wurden Fibrinogen, Albumin und ₁-Glycoprotein sowie Polystyrol, Polyetherurethan und die Oberfläche des Ge-Reflexionselementes eingesetzt. Die Intensitäten der Amid-I-Banden der jeweiligen adsorbierten Proteine lagen im Bereich vonE=0,01 und wurden als Funktion der Kontaktzeit für verschiedene Reaktionsbedingungen dargestellt (isolierte, geerdete bzw. negativ geladene Oberflächen, vor und nach D₂O-Spülung, verschiedene pD-Werte). Es konnte gezeigt werden, daß die Proteine zunächst rasch eine irreversible Schicht bilden (Sekunden bis Minuten), worauf sich langsam eine zweite Schicht aufbaut. Diese konnte durch Aufladung des Reflexionselementes auf –9 V im Fall von Fibrinogen auf Polystyrol signifikant, für Albumin und ₁-Glycoprotein nur in geringerem Ausmaß wieder entfernt werden. D₂O-Spülung allein greift diese zweite Schicht nicht an. Aus den IR-Spektren dieses Fibrinogenexperiments konnten weiters Strukturänderungen während des Auf- und Abbaues der zweiten Schicht im Vergleich zur ersten abgeleitet werden.

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This work was supported by the Austrian Science Foundation (Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung in Österreich); Proj. no. 3427.     

Manipulating interfacial polymer structures through mixed surfactant adsorption and complexation

The effects of a nonionic alcohol ethoxylate surfactant, C(13)E(7), on the interactions between PVP and SDS both in the bulk and at the silica nanoparticle interface are studied by photon correlation spectroscopy, solvent relaxation NMR, SANS, and optical reflectometry. Our results confirmed that, in the absence of SDS, C(13)E(7) and PVP are noninteracting, while SDS interacts strongly both with PVP and C(13)E(7) . Studying interfacial interactions showed that the interfacial interactions of PVP with silica can be manipulated by varying the amounts of SDS and C(13)E(7) present. Upon SDS addition, the adsorbed layer thickness of PVP on silica increases due to Coulombic repulsion between micelles in the polymer layer. When C(13)E(7) is progressively added to the system, it forms mixed micelles with the complexed SDS, reducing the total charge per micelle and thus reducing the repulsion between micelle and the silica surface that would otherwise cause the PVP to desorb. This causes the amount of adsorbed polymer to increase with C(13)E(7) addition for the systems containing SDS, demonstrating that addition of C(13)E(7) hinders the SDS-mediated desorption of an adsorbed PVP layer.