Meso- and Macroporous Polymer Gels for Efficient Adsorption of Block Copolymer Surfactants

An understanding of surfactant adsorption at solid–liquid interfaces is important for solving many technological problems. This work evaluates surfactant adsorption abilities of high surface area (200–600 m2/g), high porosity (>90%), hierarchically structured open pore polymer gels. Specifically, the interactions of a nonionic block copolymer surfactant, poly(ethylene oxide)–poly(propylene oxide)–poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-PPO-PEO), with three polymer gels, namely, syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS), polyimide (PI), and polyurea (PUA) offering different surface energy values, are evaluated at surfactant concentrations below and well above the critical micelle concentration (CMC). Two distinct surfactant adsorption behaviors are identified from the surface tension and nuclear magnetic resonance data. At concentrations below CMC, the surfactant molecules adsorb as a monolayer on polymer strands, inferred from the Langmuir-type adsorption isotherm, with the adsorbed amount increasing with the specific surface area of the polymer gel. The study reports for the first time that the gels show a strong surfactant adsorption above CMC, with the effective surfactant concentration in the gel reaching several folds of the CMC values. The effective surfactant concentration in the gel is analyzed using surfactant micelle size, polymer surface energy, and pore size of the gel. The findings of this study may have strong implications in liquid–liquid separation problems and in the removal of small dye molecules, heavy metal ions, and living organisms from aqueous streams.