Stability of hydrophobic sols in the presence of non-ionic surface-active agents. Part 2.—Stability of silver iodide sols in the presence of non-ionic surface-active agents

Abstract

The flocculation of positively-and negatively-charged silver iodide sols by divalent and trivalent ions has been examined in the presence of a series of alkyl polyoxyethylene glycol monoethers. As the concentration of non-ionic detergent was increased the concentration of inorganic salt required to produced flocculation also increased. The increase in stability of the sols produced by the adsorption of the non-ionic detergents could partly be accounted for by the reduction of the attractive forces between the particles due to the presence of the adsorbed layer. Steric hindrance between the adsorbed layers of the particles as they approached, however, also appeared to contribute to stabilization.