Adsorption and frictional properties of gemini surfactants at solid surfaces

The adsorption and frictional properties of gemini surfactants at hydrophilic gold surfaces were measured using QCM-D (quartz crystal microbalance dissipation) and AFM. The molecular packing of a series of gemini surfactants was determined from QCM-D measurements, and the frictional behaviors of the surfactant films were characterized by employing atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results show that by changing the length of the spacer group from 3 to 12 a systematic change in the molecular packing at the surface is obtained. Furthermore, the molecular packing is seen to correlate to the frictional behavior of the surfactant film. A linear relation between the spacer group length, the adsorbed amount, and the frictional properties of the layer at the solid surface is found. This is discussed in terms of the critical packing parameter (CPP) of the surfactant, and a relation between CPP and frictional behavior is proposed. No correlation between spacer length and viscoelasticity of the adsorbed surfactant layer was detected using QCM-D. This indicates that the resolution of the dissipation factor from QCM-D measurements is not sufficient to describe the viscoelastic character of the thin surfactant film.