Salt dependent stability of stearic acid Langmuir-Blodgett films exposed to aqueous electrolytes.
Langmuir
; 29(17): 5150-9, 2013 Apr 30.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-23565719
ABSTRACT
We use contact angle goniometry, imaging ellipsometry, and atomic force microscopy to study the stability and wettability of Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) monolayers of stearic acid on silica substrates, upon drying and exposure to aqueous solutions of varying salinity. The influences of Ca(2+) and Na(+) ions are compared by varying their concentrations, both in the subphase before the LB transfer, and in the droplets to which the dried LB layers are exposed. Ca(2+) ions in the subphase are found to enhance the stability, leading to contact angles up to 100°, as compared to less than 5° for Na(+). Consistent with the macroscopic wettability, AFM images show almost intact films with few holes exposing bare substrate when prepared in the presence of Ca(2+), while subphases containing Na(+) result in large areas of bare substrate after exposure to aqueous drops. The observations on varying the composition of the droplets corroborate the stabilizing effect of Ca(2+). We attribute these findings to the cation-bridging ability of Ca(2+) ions, which can bind the negatively charged stearate groups to the negatively charged substrates. We discuss the relevance of our findings in the context of enhanced oil recovery.
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MEDLINE
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Ácidos Esteáricos
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En
Ano de publicação:
2013
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Article