Study of adsorption of nonionic surfactants at the liquid–solid interface by FTIR/CIR

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), using the attenuated total reflectance (ATR) method, can be used to characterize the interface of a system. We investigated the adsorption at the liquid–solid interface of nonionic surfactant aqueous solutions with or without a hydrotropic agent. We studied monofunctional diblock copolymers of poly(ethylene oxide‐propylene oxide) (PEO–PPO) as nonionic surfactants and sodium p‐toluenesulfonate (NaPTS) as hydrotropic agent. The samples were analyzed by FTIR technique using the circular internal reflectance (CIR) accessory, which confirmed that the hydrotrope shifts the surfactant from the liquid–solid interface. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 82: 1668–1676, 2001