Preface Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1 Motivation of the book
1.2 Structure of the book
1.3 Significance of the air-water surface
1.3.1 Earth's ecology
1.3.2 Biology
1.3.3 Industrial and consumer applications
1.3.4 Summary
Chapter 2. Water as a liquid
2.1 Unique bonding network of liquid molecules
2.2 A cohesive and flexible dynamic network
2.3 Bonding network at the air-water surface
2.4 Summary
Chapter 3. The tension of a liquid surface
3.1 Definition
3.2 Determination of surface tension from Laplace pressure
3.2.1 Capillary
3.2.2 Young-Laplace-Gauss equation
3.2.3 Shape-based methods
3.2.4 Other methods based on Laplace pressure
3.3 Determination from surface force
3.3.1 Force-based methods
3.3.2 Drop weight-based method
3.4 Relating surface tension to molecular factors
3.5 Physical factors affecting surface tension
3.5.1 Temperature
3.5.2 Magnetic fields
3.5.3 Electrostatic fields
3.5.4 Microwave
3.6 Conclusion
Chapter 4. Surfactants
4.1 Surface tension of aqueous solutions
4.2 Other methods to characterise surfactants at the water surface
4.2.1 Neutron, X-ray and optical reflectometry
4.2.2 Surface potential
4.2.3 Vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy
4.2.4 Radio tracer
4.3 Molecular structure of surfactants
4.3.1 Amphiphiles
4.3.2 Surfactants with multiple functional groups
4.4 Revisiting conventional concepts in surfactant studies
4.4.1 Hydrophobicity or hypohydrophilicity?
4.4.2 Is water an amphiphile?
4.5 Surfactant applications
4.6 Molecular evolution of detergents
4.6.1 Ancient knowledge and natural soaps
4.6.2 Modern detergents
4.7 Summary
Chapter 5. Hydration shells of solutes
5.1 Charged solutes
5.1.1 Simple ions
5.1.2 Multiple-atom ions
5.2 Hydration shells of carbon chains
5.2.1 Hydrocarbon chains
5.2.2 Halogenated carbon chains
5.3 Properties of hydration shells
5.4 Hydration shells near the surface
5.4.1 Strong ionic surfactants
5.4.2 Partially miscible liquids
5.5 Summary
Chapter 6. Thermodynamic analysis of pure liquids
6.1 Chemical potential and free energy
6.2 Thermodynamic equilibrium between a pure liquid and vapour phase
6.3 The surface tension of a pure liquid
6.4 Conclusion
Chapter 7. Thermodynamic analysis of heterogeneous aqueous surface
7.1 Distribution of charged solutes near the surface
7.1.1 Electrolyte pairs
7.1.2 Water self-dissociation
7.1.3 Counterions of ionic surfactants
7.2 Thermodynamic analysis of surfactant solution
7.3 Gibbs adsorption equation and surface excess
7.3.1 Non-ionic surfactants
7.3.2 Justifications
7.3.3 Adaptation to ionic surfactants
7.4 Coupled adsorption
7.4.1 Non-ionic surfactants
7.4.2 Justifications
7.4.3 Adaptation to ionic surfactants
7.5 Conclusions
Chapter 8. Molecular length and surface activity
8.1 Asymptotic analysis
8.1.1 Traube’s rule
8.1.2 Langmuir’s analysis and molecular orientation
8.1.3. Adsorption efficiency – C20
8.2 Modelling the full tension curve
8.2.1 Gibbs adsorption isotherm and saturation surface excess
8.2.2 A thermodynamic combination of adsorption and ionisation
8.3 Co-existence with other phases
8.4 Conclusions
Chapter 9. Evaporation and condensation
9.1 Elementary steps of water evaporation and condensation
9.2 Transient surface phenomena during evaporation
9.2.1 Transient surface temperature during evaporation
9.2.2 Transient surface tension
9.2.3 Impact of surfactant layer on evaporation
9.3 The atmosphere: a system of enhanced air-water surface area
9.3.1 A sky filled with charged water droplets
9.3.2 Lightning: a manifestation of surface charge in water droplets
9.4 Concluding remark
Biography
Chi M. Phan (Ph.D., BEng) has taught in the Discipline of Chemical Engineering at Curtin University for over 18 years. He has taught classes in process analysis, process calculations, modelling, and simulations. In addition to Curtin University, he taught at the University of Newcastle (Australia) and the University of Hyogo (Japan). Most of his research is around the soft interface between water and another fluid. His experimental and simulation works in the last two decades have provided insights into the physicochemical mechanisms of surfactants at the air/water and oil/water surface. The experimental methods and theoretical development are directly applicable to chemical and environmental engineering processes
