On the Diffuse Structure of the Toluene - Water Interface

Abstract

The electric density profile along the normal to the phase interface between aromatic hydrocarbon toluene and water has been studied by X-ray reflectometry using synchrotron radiation. According to the experimental data, the width of the interface under normal conditions is (5.7 +/- 0.2) Angstrom. This value is much larger than a theoretical value of (3.9 +/- 0.1) Angstrom predicted by the theory of capillary waves with an interphase tension of (36.0 +/- 0.1) mN/m. The observed broadening of the interface is attributed to its own diffuse near-surface structure with a width no less than 4 Angstroms, which is about the value previously discussed for high-molecular-weight n-alkane - water and 1,2-dichloroethane - water interfaces.

3 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Ion-Size Effect at the Surface of a Silica Hydrosol
• Diffuse X-Ray Scattering near a Two-Dimensional Solid - Liquid Phase Transition at the n-Hexane - Water Interface
• Modelless X-Ray Scattering Study of a Silica Hydrosol Surface

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Synchrotron X-Ray Reflectivity Study of the Adsorption Film of Octadecanamide at the Toluene-Water Interface