Surface Activity, Wetting, and Aggregation of a Perfluoropolyether Quaternary Ammonium Salt Surfactant with a Hydroxyethyl Group

Jiangxun Dou; Jiaoyan Liu; Yan Wang; Lifei Zhi; Jixian Shen; Guoyong Wang

doi:10.3390/molecules28207151

Surface Activity, Wetting, and Aggregation of a Perfluoropolyether Quaternary Ammonium Salt Surfactant with a Hydroxyethyl Group

Molecules. 2023 Oct 18;28(20):7151. doi: 10.3390/molecules28207151.

Authors

Jiangxun Dou¹, Jiaoyan Liu¹, Yan Wang¹, Lifei Zhi¹, Jixian Shen², Guoyong Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
² China Research Institute of Daily Chemical Industry, Taiyuan 030001, China.

Abstract

This paper reports the synthesis of a novel quaternary surfactant containing a hydroxyethyl group (PFPE-C) and the surface properties of its aqueous solution (investigated by comparisons with two structurally similar chemicals, dodecyl-(2-hydroxyethyl)-dimethylammonium chloride (DHDAC) and PFPE-A). The minimum surface tension (γCMC) and critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the PFPE-C aqueous solution were 17.35 mN/m and 0.024 mmol/L, respectively. This study confirms that surfactants containing hydroxyethyl groups efficiently reduce the surface tension of aqueous solutions, and fluorocarbon surfactants exhibit better surface activity than ordinary hydrocarbon surfactants with similar structures. The micellization, aggregation, air-water interfacial adsorption, and wettability of PFPE-C aqueous solutions have been systematically investigated. Highly concentrated PFPE-C aqueous solutions exhibit good wettability on PTFE and paraffin films. Moreover, the aggregates of PFPE-C in the aqueous solution were clearly seen as vesicles on Cryo-TEM micrographs. Primary biodegradation results indicate that 19% of PFPC-C can be degraded within one week.

Keywords: fluorocarbon surfactant; quaternary ammonium salt; solution property.

Grants and funding

This project was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21872088), Shanxi Key Laboratory of High Value Utilization of Coal (20222010) and Taiyuan University of Science and Technology Scientific Initial Funding (Grant No. 20222010).