Effect of surfactant hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) value on mineral oxide charging in apolar media

The current work examines the role of surfactant hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) on the ability for surfactant reverse micelles to impart charge to particles dispersed in an apolar medium, a study motivated by a number of applications that seek to maximize particle charge in such systems. Previous investigations have shown that relative acid-base properties of the particles and surfactants, as well as surfactant concentration and trace water content, all play a major role in the particle charge obtained. However, the ability of a surfactant to stabilize charge in reverse micelles is also an important aspect of creating charge on a particle surface. It has been previously shown that surfactant HLB value is an important parameter in assessing the size of the polar core of the reverse micelles, thereby impacting the total charge that is generated in the bulk solution as determined by conductivity. In the current study, this theory is extended to investigate the impact on particle charging. To accomplish this, the electrophoretic mobility is determined for a series of mineral oxides dispersed in Isopar-L with either Span 20, Span 80, or Span 85. These three surfactants all have the same head group chemistry, but their HLB value ranges from 1.8 to 8.6. It is found that the maximum observed particle electrophoretic mobility does scale directly with the HLB of the accompanying surfactant. This indicates that there is a direct correlation between a surfactant's ability to stabilize charge and its ability to impart charge to a particle. However, the largest HLB surfactant, Span 20, also exhibited a large amount of charge screening or neutralization at larger surfactant concentrations. This highlights the competition between particle charging and micelle-micelle charging that remains one of the largest obstacles to maximizing particle charge in apolar systems.