Polyampholyte Surfactant Particle Interactions
John Marshall (previous student, left the group in 2002)
The biopolymer gelatin is widely used in many industrial process, as a colloid stabiliser, gelling agent, viscosity modifier, adhesive, emulsifier, foaming agent and a crystal growth modifier.
The photographic industry in particular makes extensive use of gelatin as a polymeric stabiliser of silver halide particles and photographic coupler emulsion droplets. In order to understand the behaviour of these systems it is essential to investigate the structure of the adsorbed gelatin layer. The layer structure is strongly influenced by other system components such as surfactants, pH, ionic strength, polyelectrolytes and particle type. This project uses many techniques to study the effect of these parameters upon the gelatin layer.
Techniques used: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Small Angle Neutron Scattering, Photo Correlation Spectroscopy.
This project is funded by the EPSRC and Kodak Ltd.
