Investigation of Surfactant Mediated Acid–Base Charging of Mineral Oxide Particles Dispersed in Apolar Systems

Abstract

The current work examines the role of acid-base properties on particle charging in apolar media. Manipulating the polarity and magnitude of charge in such systems is of growing interest to a number of applications. A major hurdle to the implementation of this technology is that the mechanism(s) of particle charging remain a subject of debate. The authors previously conducted a study of the charging of a series of mineral oxide particles dispersed in apolar systems that contained the surfactant AOT. It was observed that there was a correlation between the particle electrophoretic mobility and the acid-base nature of the particle, as characterized by aqueous point of zero charge (PZC) or the isoelectric point (IEP). The current study investigates whether or not a similar correlation is observed with other surfactants, namely, the acidic Span 80 and the basic OLOA 11000. This is accomplished by measuring the electrophoretic mobility of a series of mineral oxides that are dispersed in Isopar-L containing various concentrations of either Span 80 or OLOA 11000. The mineral oxides used have PZC values that cover a wide range of pH, providing a systematic study of how particle and surfactant acid-base properties impact particle charge. It was found that the magnitude and polarity of particle surface charge varied linearly with the particle PZC for both surfactants used. In addition, the point at which the polarity of charge reversed for the basic surfactant OLOA 11000 was shifted to a pH of approximately 8.5, compared to the previous result of about 5 for AOT. This proves that both surfactant and particle acid-base properties are important, and provides support for the theory of acid-base charging in apolar media.