Effect of Different Surfactants on the Interfacial Behavior of the n-Hexane-Water System in the Presence of Silica Nanoparticles

This paper presents the effect of negatively charged silica nanoparticles (NPs) on the interfacial tension of the n-hexane water system at variable concentrations of four different surfactants, viz., an anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), a cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and two nonionic surfactants, Tween 20 and Triton X-100 (TX-100). The presence of negatively charged silica nanoparticles is found to have a different effect depending on the type of surfactant. In the case of ionic surfactants, SDS and CTAB, silica NPs reduce the interfacial tension of the system. On the contrary, for nonionic surfactants, Tween 20 and TX-100, silica NPs increase the interfacial tension. The increasing/decreasing nature of the interfacial tension in the presence of NPs is well supported by the calculated surface excess concentrations. The diffusion kinetic control (DKC) and statistical rate theory (SRT) models are used to understand the behavior of dynamic interfacial tension of the surfactant-NP-oil-water system. The DKC model is found to describe the studied surfactant NP oil water systems more aptly.