Abstract
This paper is focused on the phase behavior, interaction with anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate SDS, adsorption and wetting investigations of new hydroxy mixed ether nonionic surfactants HME
. The phase diagrams of (0.1–100) %wt of HME
(n-value is the ethoxylation number EO) at the temperature range 20–100°C have shown that the increasing of n-value raises the cloud boundary toward higher temperature. Remarkable result was obtained from the interaction between SDS and HME
, at which the mixed system exhibits a unique homogeneity and a liquid crystal phase formation. Macroscopically, the liquid crystal region was found when the SDS concentration range between 8 and 24 mM mixed with 10% wt HME
. The interaction between HME
and mica was also investigated using atomic force microscopy AFM and a pronounced adsorption of HME
on mica was observed. Moreover, contact angle results reveal that glass substrate shows strong wettability of HME
surfactant solutions compared with polyethylene PE and polymethylmethaacrylate PMMA substrates. This wettability however also decreases with EO number.