Impact of an ionic surfactant on the ion transfer behaviors at meso-liquid/liquid interface arrays

Abstract The influence of ionic surfactants, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), self-assembled within silica-nanochannels of a hybrid mesoporous silica membrane (HMSM) on simple ion transfer (IT) behaviors at the meso -water/1,2-dichloroethane (W/DCE) interface arrays supported by such a HMSM was investigated by voltammetry for the first time. Significantly, it is found that the CTAB in HMSM can dramatically enhance the peak-current responses corresponding to ITs of some anions and even lower their Gibbs transfer energies from W to DCE, which could be ascribed to an anion-exchange process between anions and the bromide of CTAB associated with partial ion-dehydration induced by the CTAB. This work will provide a new strategy to study anion transfer processes and improve the electroanalytical performance for anion detection at the liquid/liquid interface.