Interactions of silver halide sols with hydrolyzed hafnium species

Abstract

Coagulation and reversal of charge effects of freshly prepared and heated solutions of hafnium tetrachloride have been studied as a function of the pH using aged silver halide sols and solsin statu nascendi. It was shown that the critical coagulation concentration and the critical stabilization concentration (due to charge reversal) increased with increasing pH. These observations have been related to the hydrolysis of the hafnium ion. At pH values above ∼4 essentially the entire amount of hafnium is present in the form of the neutral soluble, species Hf(OH)4. This accounts for the inability of the hafnium solutions to reverse the charge of the sols at higher pH values. The adsorption measurements carried out with the aid of the radioactive isotope181Hf showed that the neutral hydrolyzed species are strongly adsorbed on negatively charged silver iodide particles. The adsorbed amounts of hafnium on a AgI sol are considerably larger than in the case of charged hydrolyzed ions (such as hydrolyzed thorium ions) on a similar sol. This is explained by the ability of the neutral hafnium species, Hf(OH)4. to form a close-packed adsorbed layer. The results confirm previous findings that the enhanced adsorption of hydrolyzed ions is caused by the presence of the hydroxyl group, whereas the ionic charge plays a negligible role in this case.