Abstract
Surfactants tend to adsorb on the surface/interface mostly in a directional manner. The alkyl chain orientation and conformation order for molecular monolayers of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) at low concentrations are studied by using the sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy (SFG-VS). The molecular arrangement of the surfactants adsorbed at the solid/liquid interface is further investigated. It is found that the arrangement of the SDBS at the interface becomes relatively ordered with increasing bulk concentration. Meanwhile, the orientation angle reduces gradually, and the molecules tend to be upright state. In addition, the effect of friction on the conformation order and orientation angle are also analyzed. The intensity of the SDBS vibrational contraction peak becomes lower after friction, which indicates that the anion has a reorientation process at the interface. The arrangement of molecules becomes more disordered due to friction. The orientation angle increases slightly, which indicates the monolayer has an inclined trend relative to the lateral direction on the interface. A modified adsorption model considering friction effect is proposed. This work may provide a reference for the further study of adsorption mechanism and application of surfactants.
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The work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51675297 and 51527901).
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Xianzhang WANG. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Auburn University in 2014 and 2017, respectively. Afterward, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow working with Prof. Jianbin LUO and Prof. Liran MA at the State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He is currently a lecturer at Guangdong Ocean University, China. He has published more than 10 papers in international journals. His major research areas include orientation and structure of molecular, contact mechanics, and antifouling materials.
Yuan LIU. She received her B.S. degree in practical chemical engineering from Liaoning Petrochemical University in 2014, and got her M.S. degree from China University of Petroleum (Beijing) in 2018. She is currently perusing the Ph.D. degree from Tsinghua University. Her research interests are mainly about orientation and structure of molecular and sum frequency generation.
Liran MA. She received her B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Tsinghua University in 2005 and 2010, respectively. Following a postdoctoral period at Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, she is now working as an associate professor in the State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University. Her interests in tribology have ranged from aqueous lubrication and hydration lubrication to the liquid/solid interface properties. She has published over 80 papers. Her work has been cited more than 900 times.
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Wang, X., Liu, Y., Ma, L. et al. Reclined trend of alkyl chain of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate molecules induced by friction. Friction 10, 1353–1364 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-021-0541-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-021-0541-1