TY - JOUR
T1 - Swelling isotherms of surfactant-responsive polymer gels
AU - Lynch, I.
AU - Piculell, L.
AU - Sjöström, J.
PY - 2003
Y1 - 2003
N2 - Recent progress in the study of surfactant-responsive polymer gels is reviewed. Polymer gels can be designed that drastically swell or shrink in response to small changes in the concentration of an ionic surfactant in an external bath containing the gel. The gel swelling isotherm, where the equilibrium gel volume is measured as a function of the external surfactant concentration, yields useful information on polymer-surfactant interactions. Associating and nonassociating polymer-surfactant pairs may be distinguished, and critical concentrations for surfactant binding can be determined. Generic swelling isotherms for different classes of systems have been established, which apply to chemically widely different gels (cellulose derivatives, vinyl polymers). Hydrophobicity and charge are the essential polymer parameters that determine the features of these isotherms. In order for a surfactant to associate to a non-ionic polymer, the polymer hydrophobicity has to exceed a certain threshold. The required threshold hydrophobicity varies with the alkyl chain length, the headgroup, and the counterion of the surfactant. Added salt has large effects on all swelling isotherms.
AB - Recent progress in the study of surfactant-responsive polymer gels is reviewed. Polymer gels can be designed that drastically swell or shrink in response to small changes in the concentration of an ionic surfactant in an external bath containing the gel. The gel swelling isotherm, where the equilibrium gel volume is measured as a function of the external surfactant concentration, yields useful information on polymer-surfactant interactions. Associating and nonassociating polymer-surfactant pairs may be distinguished, and critical concentrations for surfactant binding can be determined. Generic swelling isotherms for different classes of systems have been established, which apply to chemically widely different gels (cellulose derivatives, vinyl polymers). Hydrophobicity and charge are the essential polymer parameters that determine the features of these isotherms. In order for a surfactant to associate to a non-ionic polymer, the polymer hydrophobicity has to exceed a certain threshold. The required threshold hydrophobicity varies with the alkyl chain length, the headgroup, and the counterion of the surfactant. Added salt has large effects on all swelling isotherms.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-0037259495&partnerID=MN8TOARS
M3 - Article
SN - 0340-255X
VL - 122
SP - 103
EP - 122
JO - Progress in Colloid and Polymer Science
JF - Progress in Colloid and Polymer Science
ER -