Investigation on kinetic processes of fabrication of honeycomb-patterned polystyrene film and adsorption of surfactant by quartz crystal microbalance in impedance analysis method

• The fabrication processes of polymer films were monitored by a microbalance sensor.
• The changes in viscosity and rigidity of polymer films were measured in real-time.
• The adsorption kinetic parameters of surfactant onto polymer films were estimated.
• The behavior of honeycomb-patterned and flat polystyrene films was compared.

In this work, the kinetic processes of fabrication of honeycomb-patterned polystyrene (PS) porous film by a breath figures method and the adsorption of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) onto the PS films were monitored by a quartz crystal microbalance technique. Three distinct viscoelastic behaviors of PS film were observed. The viscosity of PS film was increased slightly in the initial liquid film stage, reached a maximum in the middle of the viscous film stage, then decreased significantly in the end of rigid film stage. Compared with a flat PS film, the porous PS film had a shorter liquid film stage but a longer viscous film stage. The adsorption processes of SDBS onto the PS films were approximated favorably by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The adsorption rate constants onto flat film are 9.8–27 times of those onto porous film. The adsorption isotherms were well fitted by the Langmuir isotherm model. The adsorption equilibrium constant and capacity are 1.29 × 104 L/mol and 29.7 mg/g onto flat PS film, 6.85 × 103 L/mol and 375.8 mg/g onto porous PS film, respectively.

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