Chen, H., Jia, X. orcid.org/0000-0001-8590-7477, Fairweather, M. et al. (1 more author) (2025) Influence of wettability on diffusion limited nanoparticle adsorption at gas-liquid interfaces. JCIS Open, 20. 100154. ISSN: 2666-934X
Abstract
This study investigates the influence of hydrophobicity on particle adsorption by examining the behavior of hydrophobized silica particles at air-water interfaces. Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) trough studies of butanol (‘SiO-butane’) and hexanol (‘SiO-hexane’) esterified particles provided contrasting behavior. The SiO-butane particles formed weaker particle layers that underwent partial collapse with compression, leading to formations significantly below hexagonal close-packed estimates. In contrast, the SiO-hexane particles exhibited improved monolayer behavior and longer-range stability. Droplet surface tensions demonstrated that the hydrophobic particles significantly altered the dynamic tension during adsorption, when methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) was added as a co-surfactant. Short-term modeling elucidated the role of diffusion and energy barriers on adsorption dynamics, with SiO-hexane having reduced diffusion coefficients with respect to SiO-butane and unmodified particles. Despite this reduced diffusion, long-term modeling allowed calculation of adsorption coefficients (k<inf>a</inf>), which for SiO-hexane particles were ∼200 × greater than for unmodified particles at low 0.1 wt% particle concentrations and over 1000 × greater at 2 wt%. Overall, the results provide quantitative insights into the profound influence of hydrophobicity on particle adsorption, particularly in crowded surface environments. Importantly, a diffusion-only mechanism is inadequate to explain adsorption dynamics for these larger colloids and the gravity-driven contribution must be considered in early-stage kinetics.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Colloidal adsorption; Hydrophobicity; Surface tension; Adsorption dynamics |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemical & Process Engineering (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 24 Sep 2025 14:04 |
Last Modified: | 24 Sep 2025 14:04 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.jciso.2025.100154 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:231893 |
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