Investigation of the Interaction of Ionic Surfactants with Epoxy-Based Hydrogels by SANS.

We investigated the effect of two ionic surfactants on the composition and structure of hydrogels obtained by swelling an epoxy amphiphilic polymer network (APN) using a combination of gravimetry and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). Stoichiometric epoxy APN was synthesized by the reaction of diamino and diepoxy-terminated polypropylene (POP) and polyoxyethylene (POE). Sub- and supercritical solutions of surfactants with either cationic (myristyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)) or anionic (sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)) headgroups in heavy water were used in the preparation of the hydrogels.