V. Dudnik et K. Lunkenheimer, Dynamic surface potential and adsorption kinetics of nonionic surfactants at the air-water interface, LANGMUIR, 16(6), 2000, pp. 2802-2807
The surface potential kinetics of the nonionic surfactants tridecyldimethyl
phosphine oxide and dodecanoic acid at the air/water interface have been in
vestigated by the vibrating plate method, An influence of the thickness of
the solution layer on the surface potential and adsorption kinetics was obs
erved. A mathematical solution for the case of diffusion controlled adsorpt
ion kinetics is presented. The experimental data were fitted for different
models, As a result, the depth of the solution layer has to be taken into a
ccount in dynamic processes for small concentrations of these amphiphiles.
This is important for strong surfactants. The fit parameters have reasonabl
e values for the whole set of data by use of the derived equations. In the
case of very low concentrations, a peculiar behavior in the surface potenti
al kinetics during the initial adsorption time (t < 1 min) was found. We su
ppose this to be due to reorientation of the adsorbed surfactant molecules
when the number of the molecules at the interface increases. This was previ
ously observed by one of us on the basis of equilibrium surfactant adsorpti
on isotherm analysis.