Lamellar crystalline networks in the gel-like phase of potassium stearate-stearic acid-water

The gel-like phase constructed by fatty acid compounds is a kind of fascinating soft matters but its structural characteristics have not been fully understood. This work has investigated the crystalline structures and formation mechanism of gel-like phase containing potassium stearate (KS), stearic acid (SA), and water at 80% neutralization degree. The crystalline fibers are observed in the gel-like samples of KS-SA-water on the polarized optical microscopy. X-ray diffraction measurement demonstrates that there are two isolate types of lamellar crystallites of KS and KS-SA complexes instead of the mixed crystallites in KS-SA-water samples. While KS crystallites have shorter Bragg spacing and tilted angle than the crystallites of KS-SA complexes, it is found that the solvent of water does not penetrate in the interlayer of two kinds of crystallites. The dynamic rheology measurement suggests the strong elasticity of KS-SA-water samples, which indicates the network structure formed by the lamellar crystalline fibers entrapping water. The addition of glycerol does not affect the crystalline structures of KS-SA-water samples, but significantly increase the values of storage modulus and melting enthalpy. This result suggests that the added glycerol can promote the strength of the hydrogen bonding between the solvent and crystalline fibers in the network structure of KS-SA-water samples. These findings provide new insights to the structural properties of gel-like phase of fatty acid compounds, which are importantly helpful for controlling their structure and functions.