Colloidal dispersions of silver bromide (AgBr) in aqueous surfactant medium have been prepared using a surfactant-assisted synthesis approach with hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The surfactant acts both as source of bromide ion as well as the stabilizing agent. Upon progressive addition of silver nitrate to aqueous CTAB solution, stable AgBr dispersions were obtained. Formation of surfactant cation (CTA(+)) stabilized AgBr was confirmed by way of XRD, FTIR and NMR studies. Thermal behavior of the isolated nanoparticles was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), where the occurrence of phase transition in the surfactant-stabilized nanoparticles was observed. Kinetics of the particle growth was investigated by dynamic light scattering measurements, which predicted the formation of surfactant bilayered structures associated with the nanoparticles of AgBr. Band gap of the nanoparticles was determined by suitably analyzing the UV-visible spectral data, which concluded that the particles behaved like insulators. Morphology of the particles, studied by TEM measurements, was found to be spherical. Finally, enthalpy of formation of surfactant-stabilized AgBr, determined calorimetrically, was found to be dependent on the concentration of the precursors.
Polystyrenesulfonate acid (PSS) and alkyltrimethylammonium bromide (C
n
TAB, n = 8, 14, or 18) were dissolved in a chloroform/methanol solution and cospread on an air/water interface. The surfactant−polyelectrolyte interaction leads to the formation of hydrophobic complexes which are able to spread well at the air/water interface. The effects of surfactant chain length and surfactant/polymer ratio on the characteristics of the mixed monolayers were studied in terms of surface pressure−area (π−A) isotherm, area relaxation, and hysteresis behavior as well as the surface morphology and composition of the corresponding Langmuir−Blodgett films. The mixed monolayers prepared by cospreading method are also compared with the complex monolayers prepared by preprecipitation of the surfactant−polyelectrolyte complexes from an aqueous solution. The experimental results show that the chain length of an incorporated surfactant is the main factor determining the properties of a complex monolayer. By using a longer chain surfactant to complex with polyelectrolyte, a more condensed monolayer with higher collapse pressure and stability can be obtained. For the effect of surfactant/polymer ratio (S/P), it is found that an increase of S/P ratio not only produces more complexes capable of staying at the air/water interface but also affects the incorporation of uncomplexed surfactant into the mixed monolayer. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis shows that the amount of uncomplexed surfactant is higher at low S/P value (0.2) and is insignificant when the S/P value increases to about 1.0 or 2.0, where a maximum amount of complexes were formed at the interface. A further increase of S/P ratio may cause additional incorporation of uncomplexed surfactant and/or micellization of surfactant around PSS cores, depending on the surfactant chain length. A model illustrating the incorporation and spreading of the surfactant−polyelectrolyte complexes at the air/water interface was proposed.
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