Poly(ethylene glycol) interactions with alumina and silica powders determined via DRIFT

Diffuse reflection infrared spectroscopy (DRIFT) is used to determine interfacial interactions between poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), alumina and silica powders. The interactions are created by grafting in high temperature and low moisture environments due to preferential adsorption between PEG and water. Under these grafting conditions, a shoulder appears on the C-O-C stretching band of the DRIFT spectrum. This is found to occur when PEG is in the presence of a hydrogen donor such as surface hydroxyls on alumina and silica. The shoulder is reported as an interaction band due to hydrogen bonding between the PEG etheric oxygen and the surface hydroxyls of alumina and silica. Specific band positions are measured when the PEG chain is interacting with alumina (1090 cm(-1)), silica (1080 cm(-1)), or water (1085 cm(-1)). (C) 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers.