NMR studies of complex fluids and solids formed by surfactants

• Main Author: Hedin, Niklas
• Format: Doctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: KTH, Kemi 2000
• Subjects: CTAB; CTAC; decane; benzene; polysaccharide; micelle; microemulsion; self diffusion
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-3033; http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:isbn:

NMR methods have been designed and employed in studying ofcomplex liquids and solids formed by surfactants. PGSE NMRexperiments are easily biased by convection; this artifact canbe avoided by changing the sample holder and by usingconvection-compensated pulse sequences. The temperaturedistribution within samples was controlled using thetemperature dependent order parameter for CBr2H2dissolved in a thermotropic nematic solvent.Electronic ringing that often spoils accurate NMR experimentsfor broad lines was removed by the using composite pulses andquadrupole echo sequences with appropriate phase cycles. Field-dependent81Br and35Cl NMR relaxation studies in micellar solutions ofC16TAX surfactants showed that the structure ordynamics of the hydration shell is more influenced by thesurfactant cation for bromide than for chloride, in agreementwith their position in the Hoffmeister series. The presence ofa small but significant frequency-dependent relaxation showedthat the lateral self diffusion of the anions may be reduced ascompared to its bulk value in diluted solutions but only with afactor of 1.0 - 2.5. The ions are clearly not "bound" to thesurface. A field-dependent2H NMR relaxation study on the CTABr-α-d2and benzene-d6showed an initial one-dimensional micellargrowth followed by the appearance of microemulsion droplets onaddition of benzene. The local mobility of the benzene wasreduced when solubilized in small amounts, consistent with aninitial average location of benzene at the micellar interface.The surfactant diffusion coefficients fromconvection-compensated PGSE NMR experiments in the C12E8-D2O system showed monotonous growth of the micellesupon increasing temperature. Emulsion droplets in the C12E5-decane-D2O system where shown to coarsen according to theOstwald ripening theory after being brought out of equilibriumby a temperature drop. X-ray scattering and2H NMR line-shape and relaxation experimentssuggested that complex solids formed by a partly-sulfatedpolysaccharide and CnTAB exhibit regular ordering at both microscopicand mesoscopic length scales. <b>Keywords</b>: CTAB, CTAC, C12E8, C12E5, decane, benzene, CBr2H2, polysaccharide, micelle, microemulsion, emulsion,Ostwald ripening, NMR,81Br,35Cl,2H, field- dependent spin relaxation, PGSE, selfdiffusion, convection, ringing, thermometer, generalized Blochequations, EXORCYCLE, quadrupole echo, SAXS, WAXS, cryo-TEM.