Kinetic study of surfactant binding into polymer gel - Experimental and theoretical analyses

Kinetic studies of the cationic surfactant uptake into an anionic polymer network have been made using surfactants with various alkyl chain lengths changing ionic strength. The rate of the surfactant uptake is strongly dependent on the surfactant alkyl size and ionic strength, and it was explained in terms of two factors: surfactant diffusion process and binding process. A mathematical model for the surfactant diffusion was developed, taking into account the surfactant binding process by numerically solving diffusion equations. The obtained results were compared with those of experiments.