Influence of the “wetting–drying” compaction on the adsorptive characteristics of nanosilica A-300

Abstract

The methods of low-temperature 1H NMR and IR spectroscopy, densitometry, and adsorption from solutions are applied to study the influence of “wetting–drying” compaction on the adsorptive characteristics of the nanosilica A-300 in relation to water and gelatin. It was shown that if the bulk density changes from 0.05 to 0.25 g/ml, the protein adsorptive capacity of the nanosilica decreases no more than by 30%, which, apparently, is connected with the decrease of the part of the surface, available for the protein molecules. Interfacial energy in relation to water increases from 37 to 52 mJ/m2 if the bulk density increases and this is connected with the increase of the contribution from minor clusters (nanodrops) adsorbed on the surface water.