NMR solvent relaxation has been used to characterize the surfaces present in binary anionic particle dispersions, before and after exposure to a cationic polymer. In the polymer-free case, it is shown that the measured specific relaxation rate of the solvent is a population-weighted average of all surfaces present, enabling preferential adsorption to be explored. The addition of the oppositely charged polymer led to phase separation, which was accelerated by gentle centrifugation. The measured relaxation rates and the equilibrium particle concentrations indicate that the cationic hydroxyethylcellulose polymer (HEC LR) exhibited no significant preference for either latex or laponite in binary blends with silica, but a strong preference for TiO2. This study illustrates the versatility of solvent relaxation to probe surface area, surface type and dispersion composition in complex formulations.
Keywords: NMR solvent relaxation; phase separation; preferential adsorption.