Organic solvents, surface charging

The solution chemistry of nonaqueous solvents is very different from that of water-rich mixed solvents. pH measurement in nonaqueous solvents is difficult or impossible. Salts often show a limited degree of dissociation and limited solubility (see [132] for solubility of salts in organic solvents). Ions that adsorb nonspecifically from water may adsorb specifically from nonaqueous solvents, and vice versa. Therefore, the approach used for water and water-rich mixed solvents is not applicable for nonaqueous solvents, with a few exceptions (heavy water and short-chain alcohols). The potential is practically the only experimentally accessible quantity characterizing surface charging behavior. The physical properties of solvents may be very different from those of water, and have to be taken into account in the interpretation of results. For example, the Smoluchowski equation, which is often valid for aqueous systems, is not recommended for estimation of the potential in a pure nonaqueous solvent. Surface charging and related phenomena in nonaqueous solvents are reviewed in [3120-3127], Low-temperature ionic liquids are very different from other nonaqueous solvents, in that they consist of ions. Surface charging in low-temperature ionic liquids was studied in [3128-3132]. 

The study of colloidal crystals was initiated as part of research into the determination of phase diagrams for colloids, which itself was perceived as a means to model phase behaviour in molecular systems [22]. Extensive literature is available on the dynamics of colloidal crystal formation, as a function of several parameters, such as the nature of the solvent, surface charge, particle size and concentration. The results described here refer to the formation of colloidal crystals from dispersions of silica-coated gold nanoparticles in ethanol, after silica surface functionalization with 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (TPM). Earlier studies by Philipse and Vrij [23] showed that TPM adsorption leads to a reduction in surface charge, so that the particles are stable in organic solvents with low polarity, such as ethanol, toluene or DMF. This means that the particle be-... 

Recent development of the use of reversed micelles (aqueous surfactant aggregates in organic solvents) to solubilize significant quantities of nonpolar materials within their polar cores can be exploited in the development of new concepts for the continuous selective concentration and recovery of heavy metal ions from dilute aqueous streams. The ability of reversed micelle solutions to extract proteins and amino acids selectively from aqueous media has been recently demonstrated the results indicate that strong electrostatic interactions are the primary basis for selectivity. The high charge-to-surface ratio of the valuable heavy metal ions suggests that they too should be extractable from dilute aqueous solutions. 

Trasatti has calculated the potentials of several organic, solvents from Volta potentials and the partial surface potentials on the mercury solution phase boundaries at the potential of zero charge. ... 

The possibility of determination of the difference of surface potentials of solvents, see Scheme 18, among others, has been used for the investigation of Ajx between mutually saturated water and organic solvent namely nitrobenzene [57,58], nitroethane and 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) [59], and isobutyl methyl ketone (IB) [69]. The results show a very strong influence of the added organic solvent on the surface potential of water, while the presence of water in the nonaqueous phase has practically no effect on its x potential. The information resulting from the surface potential measurements may also be used in the analysis of the interfacial structure of liquid-liquid interfaces and their dipole and zero-charge potentials [3,15,22]. 

Kakiuchi and Senda [36] measured the electrocapillary curves of the ideally polarized water nitrobenzene interface by the drop time method using the electrolyte dropping electrode [37] at various concentrations of the aqueous (LiCl) and the organic solvent (tetrabutylammonium tetraphenylborate) electrolytes. An example of the electrocapillary curve for this system is shown in Fig. 2. The surface excess charge density Q, and the relative surface excess concentrations T " and rppg of the Li cation and the tetraphenylborate anion respectively, were evaluated from the surface tension data by using Eq. (21). The relative surface excess concentrations and of the d anion and the... 

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