Physical organogels: mechanism and kinetics of evaporation of the solvents entrapped within network scaffolding

Abstract

A series of hydrocarbon gels (based on leaded petrol and decalin) using physically crosslinked networks have been prepared using Al-salt of fatty acid as the physical gelling agent. The effects of gel network scaffolding on the mechanism and kinetics of evaporation of the solvents from the gels were investigated using conventional, isothermal and modulated thermogravimetric analysis. It has been clearly observed that the evaporation of solvent from gels followed a complex evaporation pattern compared to the pure solvent. It appears that with increase in network scaffolding the maximum rate of evaporation of the solvent decreases and its distribution become broader. The activation energy of evaporation for these solvents was found not to be dramatically dependent on the concentration of the gelator and tightness of the network scaffolding. Amongst different methods employed, isothermal measurements provided reliable information about the mechanism of evaporation. Modulated thermogravimetric analysis proved to be an efficient method to achieve kinetic parameters of evaporation from a single dynamic experiment. Scanning electron microscopy was used to probe for both dry gelator and gel network after evaporation of the solvents for evaluation of their surface morphology.