Interface Adsorption and Aggregation Behavior of Sulfonate-Based Anionic Silicone Surfactants in Aqueous Solution

A series of sulfonate silicone surfactants possessing different hydrophobic groups were synthesized. Their adsorption and thermodynamic parameters in aqueous solutions were investigated by surface tension measurements, conductivity, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). These sulfonate-based anionic silicone surfactants exhibit significant surface activity and can reduce the surface tension of water to 19.6 mN m(-1) at critical micelle concentration. The TEM and DLS results demonstrate that the three sulfonated silicone surfactants self-assemble into homogeneous sized vesicle-like aggregates in aqueous solution. Moreover, the size of the aggregates was determined to be in the range from 80 to 400 nm at 0.05 mol L-1.

Automated summary

A series of sulfonate silicone surfactants with different hydrophobic groups were synthesized and their adsorption and thermodynamic parameters in aqueous solutions were investigated. These anionic sulfonate-based silicone surfactants exhibited significant surface activity and could reduce the surface tension of water to 19.6 mN m(-1) at critical micelle concentration. TEM and DLS results revealed that these three sulfonated silicone surfactants self-assembled into homogeneous vesicle-like aggregates in aqueous solution, with the size ranging from 80 to 400 nm at 0.05 mol L-1.