An experimental study of interaction between surfactant and particle hydrogels

Polyacrylamide gel was synthesized to study interaction between surfactant and particle hydrogel. Surfactants used in this study include cationic surfactants, n-dodecylpyridinium chloride, (1-hexadecyl) pyridinium bromide; anionic surfactants, sodium salt of dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid, sodium 4-n-octyl benzene sulfonate and sodium branched alcohol propoxylate sulfate; and nonionic surfactants, Igepal® CO-530, Tergitol® NP-10 and Neodol® 25-12. It has been found that, after swelling of the dry particles, surfactant concentration shows a substantial increase. Meanwhile, dynamic modulus (G′ and G") of the gels shows a significant decrease in the surfactant solutions. Based on the experimental results, a mechanism has been proposed to elucidate the reduction of the gel dynamic modulus. Furthermore, this mechanism was discussed through surfactant critical packing parameters (CPP) at the interface of the hydrogel particle and surfactant aqueous solution, and confirmed by recovery of the gel dynamic modulus after removal of the surfactant from the hydrogels.