Adsorption of ethoxylated nonionic surfactants on various interfaces

The adsorption behavior of pure ethoxylated nonionic surfactants on cotton and polyester surface in hydrophobic environment was quantified. The role of ethylene oxide group variation in surfactant-polymer interaction was established using pure surfactant with same alkyl chain length but varying ethoxylate chain lengths. Surfactant with more ethylene oxide groups per molecule interacted favorably with cotton than polyester in the hydrophobic environment. The adsorption of the pure surfactants on model gold surface was also established. The effect of ethylene oxide chain length and surfactant concentration on the extent of adsorption was precisely quantified and adsorption isotherms were constructed. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 2007 AIChE Annual Meeting (Salt Lake City, UT 11/4-9/2007).