Nanoscale Structure of the Oil-Water Interface

M. Fukuto, B. M. Ocko, D. J. Bonthuis, R. R. Netz, H. G. Steinrück, D. Pontoni, I. Kuzmenko, J. Haddad, M. Deutsch

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

X-ray reflectivity (XR) and atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, carried out to determine the structure of the oil-water interface, provide new insight into the simplest liquid-liquid interface. For several oils (hexane, dodecane, and hexadecane) the XR shows very good agreement with a monotonic interface-normal electron density profile (EDP) broadened only by capillary waves. Similar agreement is also found for an EDP including a sub-Å thick electron depletion layer separating the oil and the water. The XR and MD derived depletions are much smaller than reported for the interface between solid-supported hydrophobic monolayers and water.

Original languageEnglish
Article number256102
Pages (from-to)256102
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume117
Issue number25
DOIs
StatePublished - 16 Dec 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Physical Society.

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