Surfactant adsorption on a solid surface is a key issue in many different and diverse areas. For example, adsorption is a key and necessary step for the removal of particulate contaminates (e.g. dirt!) from clothes, dishes and hard surfaces. As another example, processes that are used to separate different minerals often use surfactant adsorption as the key separation vehicle. A final example is in recycling of paper; surfactant adsorption is used to remove ink particulates from the printed page. Surfactant adsorption is also very important in the semiconductor industry as well as enhanced oil recovery. Our group is interested primarily in the fundamentals of this process.
We have looked at many areas regarding surfactant adsorption. The primary techniques that we have used are adsorption onto a quartz crystal microbalance and atomic force microscopy for flat surfaces and liquid chromotography and calorimetry for particles. We recently have had significant efforts in understanding the effects of roughness on adsorption, in short we found that roughness decreases adsorption, which was entirely expected given that surfactant adsorption is extremely cooperative. We also found that heat of wetting can be used to qualitatively measure wetting but cannot in general be used quantitatively to measure contact angle. The exception to that is if wetting is measured at various temperatures, if the contact angle is measured at one temperature then one can calculate contact angle quantitatively making assumptions that generally seem to be correct.
H. Gecol, J.F. Scamehorn, S.D. Christian, B.P. Grady, and F.E. Riddell, “Use of Surfactants to Remove Water Based Inks from Plastic Films”, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 189, 55 (2001).
A.D.W. Carswell, A.M. Lowe, X. Wei, B.P. Grady, “CMC Determination in the Presence of Surfactant-Adsorbing Inorganic Particulates”, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 212, 147 (2003).
C. Gutig, B.P. Grady, A. Striolo, “Experimental Studies on the Adsorption of Two Surfactants on Solid-Aqueous Interfaces: Adsorption Isotherms and Kinetics” Langmuir, 24, 4806 (2008); Correction: Langmuir, 24, 13814 (2008).
L. Shi, M. Ghezzi, G. Caminati, P. Lo Nostro, B.P. Grady, A. Striolo, “Adsorption Isotherms of Aqueous C12E6 and CTAB Surfactants on Solid Surfaces in the Presence of Low-Molecular-Weight Co-Adsorbents”, Langmuir, 25, 5536 (2009)
N.R. Tummala, B.P. Grady, A. Striolo, Lateral confinement effects on the structural properties of surfactant aggregates: SDS on graphene, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 12, 13137 (2010)
J.L. Lopata, K.M. Werts, J.F. Scamehorn, B.P. Grady, “Thermodynamics of Mixed Anionic/Nonionic Surfactant Adsorption on Alumina”, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 342, 415 (2010).
T. Sritapunyaa, S. Jairakdeea, T. Kornprapakula, S. Somabutra, K. Siemanonda, K. Bunyakiata, B. Kitiyanana, J.F. Scamehorn, B.P. Grady, S. Chavadej “Adsorption of Surfactants on Carbon Black and Paper Fiber in the Presence of Calcium Ions”, Colloids and Surfaces A-Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 389, 206 (2011).
T. Sritapunya, B. Kitiyanan, J.F. Scamehorn, B.P. Grady, S. Chavadej, “Wetting of Polymer Surfaces by Aqueous Surfactant Solutions” Colloids and Surfaces A-Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 409, 30 (2012).
J. Thavorn, J.J. Hamon, B. Kitiyanan, A. Striolo, B.P. Grady, “Competitive Surfactant Adsorption of AOT and TWEEN 20 on Gold Measured Using a Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation”, Langmuir, 37, 11031 (2014).
M. Suttipong, B.P. Grady, A. Striolo, “Self-assembled surfactants on patterned surfaces: confinement and cooperative effects on aggregate morphology” Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics, 16, 16388 (2014).
J. Thavorn, J.J. Hamon, B. Kitiyanan, A. Striolo, B.P. Grady, “Competitive Surfactant Adsorption of AOT and TWEEN 20 on Gold Measured Using a Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation”, Langmuir, 37, 11031 (2014).
M. Suttipong, B.P. Grady, A. Striolo, “Surfactant Aggregates Templated by Lateral Confinement”, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 119, 5467 (2015).
M. Suttipong, B.P. Grady, A. Striolo, “Surfactant adsorption on crossing stripes and steps”, Soft Matter, 13, 862 (2017).
J.J. Hamon, R.F. Tabor, A. Striolo, B.P. Grady, “Atomic force microscopy force mapping analysis of an adsorbed surfactant above and below the critical micelle concentration”, Langmuir, 34, 7223 (2018).
J.J. Hamon, A. Striolo, B.P. Grady, “Observing the Effects of Temperature and Surface Roughness on Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide Adsorption Using a Quartz-Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation Monitoring”, Journal of Surfactants and Detergents, 22, 1201 (2019).
J.J. Hamon, R.F. Tabor, A. Striolo and B.P. Grady, “Directly Probing Surfactant Adsorption on Nanoscopic Trenches and Pillars” Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 579, 128 (2020).