Natural care products through Neutron and Synchrotron X-ray studies of sustainable polymers and surfactants.

Important results from the project

We aimed to use our understanding of polymer-surfactant systems using natural and more sustainable ingredients, providing potential for development of product in the personal care and food market. By working in parallel with both bulk-information and surface characteristics we found important similarities with traditional systems, which would lower the threshold for developers. At the same time, we learned about important differences, which we will help our customers mitigate and/or leverage. We further aimed to lower our own threshold to use RIs which the future will tell.

Expected long term effects

We expected to see interactions also in the new system and were pleased to see the desired coacervate, also under conditions relevant to the industry. Further, we see that the material deposits on surfaces, a positive results of the chosen system. Syncrotron-SAXS at MAX IV provided no more insight than traditional SAXS at Lund University, but it is possible that the microfluidic setup will, once further analyzed. Finally, we learned that the setup for neutron reflectometry at ISIS (INTER beamline) does not obviously suit studies of these phenomena as well as ellipsometry does.

Approach and implementation

We have used many times more resources than budgeted, especially when we chose to engage two master students in the project together with LU. It was valuable as it gave a stronger bond to LU, but it adversely affected the budget. We have also learned that more people should be present at the experiments and that fewer samples can be analyzed than the RI contact persons judge. These are important lessons. We know we could have used a different system for possibly simpler analyses, but are satisfied that we filled an important scientific gap with what was actually done.