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The phase transition from L3 phase to vesicles and rheological properties of a nonionic surfactant mixture system

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Abstract

A sponge phase (L3 phase) was observed in aqueous solution of a nonionic surfactant polyethylene glycol ether of tridecyl alcohol with the average 3 of ethylene oxide (CH3(CH2)12(OCH2CH2)3OH, abbreviated as Trideceth-3) with tetradecyldimethylamino oxide (\( {\mathrm{CH}}_3{\left({\mathrm{CH}}_2\right)}_{13}\overset{\overset{\mathrm{O}}{\uparrow }}{\mathrm{N}}{\left({\mathrm{CH}}_3\right)}_2 \), abbreviated as C14DMAO). The L3 phase can be transferred to planar lamellar phase after the bilayer was protonated by the formic acid formed through the hydrolysis of methylformate. The addition of surface charge into the nonionic L3 phase through electrostatic repulsion on the ionic head groups will suppress the Helfrich undulation and induce the transition to planar lamellar phase. The planar lamellar phase can be transformed into multilamellar vesicles under shear. Rheological properties show that both of the storage modulus and the loss modulus of the lamellar phase were increased with the increment of surface charge density. The phase transition from L3 phase to vesicles was characterized by rheological measurements, 2H NMR spectra, and transmission electron microscope (TEM) observations. To our best knowledge, this is the first example of a controlled phase transition in nonionic surfactant mixtures through protonation and shear forces. The procedure provides a direction on how to achieve phase transition in surfactant solution by changing the conditions and an application of phase transition of controlled materials.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2016BQ30), the Young Talents Training Program of Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Special Agricultural Research Program (201303103).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan, 250100, People’s Republic of China

    Yuwen Shen, Haitao Lin & Zhaohui Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Wastes Matrix Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture, Jinan, China

    Yuwen Shen

  3. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer, Jinan, China

    Yuwen Shen

  4. Bayreuther Zentrum für Kolloide und Grenzflächen, Universität Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

    Heinz Hoffmann

  5. Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface Chemistry, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, People’s Republic of China

    Jingcheng Hao

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  1. Yuwen Shen
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  2. Heinz Hoffmann
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  3. Haitao Lin
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Correspondence to Yuwen Shen or Jingcheng Hao.

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Shen, Y., Hoffmann, H., Lin, H. et al. The phase transition from L3 phase to vesicles and rheological properties of a nonionic surfactant mixture system. Colloid Polym Sci 295, 1663–1670 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-017-4144-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-017-4144-3

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