Adsorption of non-ionic surface-active agents at the Graphon/solution interface

Abstract

A study has been made of the adsorption of homogeneous non-ionic detergents from aqueous solution on Graphon. At a fixed temperature maximum adsorption increases with increasing alkyl chain length and diminishes with increasing size of the hydrophilic head group. In contrast to the behaviour normally observed for the adsorption of a single component, the adsorption of these compounds from soution increases with increasing temperature. This effect has been ascribed to the temperature-dependent hydration of the molecules and, in general, their adsorption behaviour is influenced not only by the conventional adsorbate + adsorbent interactions, but also by solute + solvent interactions, the effect of the latter becoming progressively more pronounced as the lower consolute phase boundary is approached.