Adsorption Articles:
Minimizing Surfactant Losses Using Twin-Head Anionic Surfactants in Subsurface Remediation
Illustrates the principal way we reduce surfactant adsorption: Choose a surfactant that is repelled by the charge on the surface where you don't want it to adsorb.
This paper illustrates another important property of adsorbed surfactants: They act a lot like micelles! This means that surfactants adsorbed on a surface can cause other molecules that wouldn't normally interact with the surface to also become adsorbed. When you want to clean the surface, this is to be avoided. When you want to modify the properties of the surface, this is an additional tool that can be used.
Surfactant Adsorption on Oxides
While surfactants will adsorb on anything, the adsorption of surfactants on metal oxides is especially important. Oxides are used as fillers and reinforcers in polymer composites, as pigments in inks, as opacifiers in paints, and as the base material in ceramics. Oxide layers also form spontaneously on all metal surfaces. Consequently, it is important to know the unique aspects of surfactant adsorption on oxides. One of the most important of these factors is the existence of an amphoteric (capable of acting as either an acid or a base) surface on all oxides. Thus, the surface of an oxide may have either a positive charge or a negative charge, depending on the pH. Each oxide surface also has a specific pH at which the net surface charge will be zero. This important property of the surface is called the Point of Zero Charge (PZC)
Recommended Reading
Adsorption of Ionic Surfactants, , B. Hough and H. M. Rendall, in Adsorption from Solution at the Solid/Liquid Interface, G. D. Parfitt and C. H. Rochester, Editors, Academic Press, London, pages 247-320, 1983
Adsorption of Nonionic Surfactants, , J. S. Clunie and B. T. Ingram, in Adsorption from Solution at the Solid/Liquid Interface, G. D. Parfitt and C. H. Rochester, Editors, Academic Press, London, pages 105-152, 1983
Adsorption of Surfactants at the Solid/Liquid Interface, , R. Aveyard, Chapter 5, in Solid/Liquid Dispersions, Th. F. Tadros, Editor, Academic Press, London, 1987
Evaluation of Ethoxylated Alkylsulfate Surfactants for use in Subsurface Remediation, , J. D. Rouse, D. A. Sabatini, R. E. Brown, and J. H. Harwell, Water Environment Research, 68, No. 2, 1996
Adsolubilization, , J. H. O’Haver, L. L. Lobban, J. H. Harwell, and E. A. O’Rear III, in Solubilization in Surfactant Aggregates, S. D. Christian and J. F. Scamehorn, Editors, Marcel Dekker, New York, Chapter 8, pages 277-295, 1995
Adsorption from Mixed Surfactant Systems, , J. F. Scamehorn and J. H. Harwell, in Mixed Surfactant Systems, K. Ogino and M. Abe, Editors, Chapter 9, pages 263-281, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1993
Minimizing Surfactant Losses Using Twin-Head Anionic Surfactants in Subsurface Remediation, , J. D. Rouse, D. A. Sabatini, and J. H. Harwell, Envir. Sci. & Tech., 27, 2072-2078, 1993
Adsorption of Nonionic Surfactants from Aqueous Solutions on Graphite: Adsorption Isotherms and Calorimetric Enthalpies of Displacement for C8E4 and Related Compounds, , G. H. Findenegg, B. Pasucha and H. Strunk, Colloids and Surfaces, 37, 223, 1989
Surfactant Science and Technology, , Drew Myers, VCH Publishers, Weinheim, Federal Republic of Germany, Chapter 8, pages 273-325, 1988
Fluorescence Probe Studies on the Structure of the Adsorbed Layer of Dodecyl Sulfate at the Alumina-Water Interface, , P. Chandar, P. Somasundaran, and N. J. Turro, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 117, 31, 1987
Infrared Study of the Adsorption of Nonionic Surfactants on Silica [from Nonaqueous Solutions], , Y. Lijour, J.-V. Claves and P. Saumagne, J. Chem. Soc., Faraday Trans. 1, 83, 3283, 1987
Effects of Counterions on Surfactant Aggregates at the Alumina/Aqueous Solution Interface, , D. Bitting and J. H. Harwell, Langmuir, 3, 500, 1987
Adsorption of Nonyl Phenol Ethoxylates on Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Surfaces, , J. R. Aston, D. N. Furlong, F. Grieser, P. J. Scales and G. G. Warr, in Adsorption at the Gas-Solid and Liquid-Solid Interface, J. Rouquerol and K.S.W. Sing, Editors, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam, page 97, 1982
Relationship of Structure to Properties in Surfactants: III. Adsorption at the Solid-Liquid Interface from Aqueous Solution, , Rosen, M. J., J. Am. Oil Chem Soc., 52, 43, 1975