Recent progress of the characterization of oppositely charged polymer/surfactant complex in dilution deposition system

•Updates on characterization of oppositely charged polymer/surfactant complex in dilution deposition system.•Effect of molecular structure and additives on complex precipitation behavior•Changes of resolubilized complexes in the dilution process•Morphology and character of complex in the precipitation region

A mixture of oppositely charged polymer and surfactants changes the solubilized state, having a complex precipitation region at the composition of electric neutralization. This complex behavior has been applied to surface modification in the fields of health care and cosmetic products such as conditioning shampoos, as a dilution-deposition system in which the polymer/surfactant mixture at the higher surfactant concentration precipitates the insoluble complex by dilution. A large number of studies over many years have revealed the basic coacervation behavior and physicochemical properties of complexes. However, the mechanism by which a precipitated complex performs surface modification is not well understood. The precipitation region and the morphology of precipitated complex that are changed by molecular structure and additives affect the performance. Hydrophilic groups such as the EO unit in polymers and surfactants, the mixing of nonionic or amphoteric surfactant and nonionic polymer, and the addition of low polar solvent influence the complex precipitation region. Furthermore, the morphology of precipitated complex is formed by crosslinking and aggregating among polymers in the dilution process, and characterizes the performance of products. The polymer chain density in precipitated complex is determined by the charges of both the polymer and surfactant micelle and the conformation of polymer. As a result, the morphology of precipitated complexes is changed from a closely packed film to looser meshes, and/or to small particles, and it is possible for the morphology to control the rheological properties and the amount of adsorbed silicone. In the future, further investigation of the relationships between the morphology and performance is needed.

Graphical abstractMorphology changes by polymer and surfactant charges for the complex precipitated from the 10 times diluted model shampoo (1% Cat-HEC, 15% LES/LPB and 3% salt). Data taken from ref. [17].Download high-res image (190KB)Download full-size image