Peng Mengsu, Duignan Timothy T, Nguyen Cuong V, Nguyen Anh V
School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
Langmuir. 2021 Feb 23;37(7):2237-2255. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c03162. Epub 2021 Feb 9.
Surfactants are centrally important in many scientific and engineering fields and are used for many purposes such as foaming agents and detergents. However, many challenges remain in providing a comprehensive understanding of their behavior. Here, we provide a brief historical overview of the study of surfactant adsorption at the air-water interface, followed by a discussion of some recent advances in this area from our group. The main focus is on incorporating an accurate description of the adsorption layer thickness of surfactant at the air-water interface. Surfactants have a wide distribution at the air-water interface, which can have a significant effect on important properties such as the surface excess, surface tension, and surface potential. We have developed a modified Poisson-Boltzmann (MPB) model to describe this effect, which we outline here. We also address the remaining challenges and future research directions in this area. We believe that experimental techniques, modeling, and simulation should be combined to form a holistic picture of surfactant adsorption at the air-water interface.
表面活性剂在许多科学和工程领域都至关重要，并被用于许多用途，如发泡剂和洗涤剂。然而，在全面理解其行为方面仍存在许多挑战。在此，我们简要回顾一下表面活性剂在气-水界面吸附研究的历史，随后讨论我们团队在该领域的一些最新进展。主要重点是纳入对表面活性剂在气-水界面吸附层厚度的准确描述。表面活性剂在气-水界面分布广泛，这会对诸如表面过剩、表面张力和表面电势等重要性质产生显著影响。我们开发了一个修正的泊松-玻尔兹曼（MPB）模型来描述这种影响，在此进行概述。我们还讨论了该领域剩余的挑战和未来的研究方向。我们认为，实验技术、建模和模拟应结合起来，以形成表面活性剂在气-水界面吸附的整体图景。
