Boundary layers of aqueous surfactant and block copolymer solutions against hydrophobic and hydrophilic solid surfaces

The boundary layer of aqueous surfactants and amphiphilic triblock copolymers against flat solid surfaces of different degrees of hydrophobicity was investigated by neutron reflectometry (NR), grazing incidence small angle neutron scattering (GISANS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Solid substrates of different hydrophobicities were prepared by appropriate surface treatment or by coating silicon wafers with polymer films of different chemical natures. For substrates coated with thin films (20–30 nm) of deuterated poly(styrene) (water contact angle ), neutron reflectivity measurements on the polymer/water interface revealed a water depleted liquid boundary layer of 2–3 nm thickness and a density about 90% of the bulk water density. No pronounced depletion layer was found at the interface of water against a less hydrophobic polyelectrolyte coating (). It is believed that the observed depletion layer at the hydrophobic polymer/water interface is a precursor of the nanobubbles which have been observed by AFM at this interface.

Decoration of the polymer coatings by adsorbed layers of nonionic C_mE_n surfactants improves their wettability by the aqueous phase at surfactant concentrations well below the critical micellar concentration (CMC) of the surfactant. Here, GISANS experiments conducted on the system SiO₂/C₈E₄/D₂O reveal that there is no preferred lateral organization of the C₈E₄ adsorption layers.

For amphiphilic triblock copolymers (PEO–PPO–PEO) it is found that under equilibrium conditions they form solvent-swollen brushes both at the air/water and the solid/water interface. In the latter case, the brushes transform to uniform, dense layers after extensive rinsing with water and subsequent solvent evaporation. The primary adsorption layers maintain properties of the precursor brushes. In particular, their thickness scales with the number of ethylene oxide units (EO) of the block copolymer. In the case of dip-coating without subsequent rinsing, surface patterns of the presumably crystalline polymer on top of the primary adsorption layer develop upon drying under controlled conditions. The morphology depends mainly on the nominal surface coverage with the triblock copolymer. Similar morphologies are found on bare and polystyrene-coated silicon substrates, indicating that the surface patterning is mainly driven by segregation forces within the polymer layers and not by interactions with the substrate.