1. Surfactant chemistry and general phase （1。）.pdfVIP

1. Surfactant chemistry and general phase behaviour 1.1 SURFACTANTS IN COLLOIDAL SYSTEMS The term colloid (which means “glue” in Greek) was first introduced in 1861 by Thomas Graham to describe the “pseudosolutions” in aqueous systems of silver chloride, sulfur, and Prussian blue which were prepared by Francesco Selmi in the mid-nineteenth century [1]. Such systems were characterised by a lack of sedimentation under the influence of gravity, as well as low diffusion rates. Graham thus deduced that the colloidal size range is approximately 1 µm down to 1 nm (i.e., 10-6 – 10-9 m). This characteristic still holds today and colloids are generally described as systems consisting of one substance finely dispersed in another. These substances are referred to as the dispersed phase and dispersion medium (or continuous phase) respectively, and can be a solid, a liquid, or a gas. Such combinations together with large surface areas associated with the characteristic size of colloidal particles give rise to a large variety of systems, practical applications and interfacial phenomena. Amongst these systems, the most common and ancient class is probably the lyophobic (“liquid-hating”) colloids, composed of insoluble or immiscible components. They can be traced back to the 1850’s when Michael Faraday prepared colloidal gold sols, which involve solid particles in water [2]. More commonly encountered examples of lyophobic colloids are milk (liquid fat dispersed as fine drops in an aqueous phase), smoke (solid particles dispersed in air), fog (small liquid droplets dispersed in air), paints (small solid particles 2 dispersed in liquid), jelly (large protein molecules dispersed in water), and bone (small