FTIR spectral characterization of thin film coatings of oleic acid on glasses: I. Coatings on glasses from ethyl alcohol

Oleic acid was coated on soda lime-silicate, soda-silicate, and silica glasses from ethyl alcohol. The coating properties of oleic acid were related to the structure, composition, and dissolution properties of the glasses. The bonding mechanism between the organic coating and the glass surface for each different composition of the glass was revealed by analysis of the diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform (DRIFT) spectra. The metal ions on the soda lime-silicate glass surface produced metal-(Na-, Ca-, and Al-) oleates through the formation of metal-carboxylate complexes. Two different structural types were present for calcium-oleate. Some of the oleic acid coated undissociatively on the glass surface through hydrogen bonding. Oleic acid reacted with the surface of the soda-silicate glass, which possessed less Na2O content than the soda lime-silicate glass did, completely dissociating, producing only sodium-oleate species because of the high diffusion and dissolution rates of Na+ ions. Oleic acid formed only hydrogen bonds with silanol groups on silica glass. The coated organic layer on soda lime-silicate glass possessed a more ordered and compact structure than either on silica glass or in pure oleic acid. The metal ions on the soda lime-silicate glass surface strongly coordinated to COO- ions from the oleic acid and made the alkyl chains of the oleates more rigid and oriented, consequently causing the coated layer to be more ordered and compact. This structural result caused the dimeric pairs of COOH groups of undissociatively adsorbed oleic acid molecules to be closer, possessing stronger hydrogen bonds than occurring on the silica glass surface. These results suggest that the composition of the glass is one of the most important factors for determining the coating mechanism involving oleic acid. (C) 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers.