Self-assembly in surfactant-based mixtures driven by acid–base reactions: bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid–n-octylamine systems
Structural and dynamic features of bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (HDEHP)-n-octylamine (NOA) mixtures as a function of the NOA mole fraction (X-NOA) have been investigated by SAXS, WAXS, IR, dielectric spectroscopy and polarized optical microscopy. In the 0 <= X-NOA < 0.5 range, mixtures are transparent liquids, while the abrupt formation of a waxy solid characterized by an hexagonal bidimensional structure occurs at X-NOA = 0.5. Such a composition-induced phase transition results from the synergetic effect of the progressive increase in number density of ordered HDEHP-NOA nanodomains with X-NOA. Mainly driven by an HDEHP to NOA proton transfer, the increase of structural order with X-NO…
Emerging dynamics in surfactant-based liquid mixtures: octanoic acid/bis(2-ethylhexyl) amine systems.
This work focuses on the dynamic phenomena emerging in self-assembled transient intermolecular networks formed when two different surfactants are mixed. In particular, the relaxation processes in liquid mixtures composed by bis(2-ethylhexyl)amine (BEEA) and octanoic acid (OA) in the whole composition range has been investigated by dielectric spectroscopy and Brillouin spectroscopy. A thorough analysis of all the experimental data consistently suggests that, mainly driven by acid-base interactions arising when the two surfactants are mixed, supra-molecular aggregates formation causes the slowing down of molecular dynamics. This, in turn, reflects to longer-range relaxations. These changes ha…
Anti-Arrhenian behaviour of conductivity in octanoic acid–bis(2-ethylhexyl)amine systems: a physico-chemical study
Pure surfactant liquids and their binary mixtures, owing to the amphiphilic nature of the molecules involved, can exhibit nano-segregation and peculiar transport properties. The structural and dynamic properties of octanoic acid (OA)–bis(2-ethylhexyl)amine (BEEA) liquid mixtures at various compositions have been studied by Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS), 1H-NMR and broadband dielectric spectroscopy as a function of temperature. It was found that the self-assembly occurs via proton exchange between the OA COOH group and the BEEA NH one; such self-assembled local structures are affected anisotropically by a temperature increase so that the thermal dilatation is more marked in a direction …
Self-assembly in surfactant-based liquid mixtures: Octanoic acid/Bis(2-ethylhexyl)amine systems
Abstract The physico-chemical properties of Bis(2-ethylhexyl)amine (BEEA) plus octanoic acid (OA) mixtures have been investigated by IR, SAXS, WAXS, viscosimetry, and AC complex impedance spectroscopy in the whole composition range. Mainly driven by proton transfer from the acidic OA to the basic BEEA, the formation of stoichiometrically well-defined adducts takes place in the mixtures. This causes the slowing down of molecular dynamics and the increase in charge carrier number density. Interestingly, while the pure components possess no significant conductivity (about 10−12 S cm−1 at 25 °C), their mixtures show a composition-dependent enhanced conductivity (up to about 10−5 S cm−1), i.e., …