Abstract
Much is known about the effect of surfactants on the heterogeneity of liquid-liquid
interfaces, but interfacial properties are sensitive to temperature. The relationship
between temperature, surfactant adsorption, and interface structure has not yet been
a major research topic. In this work, the effect of temperature on the interfacial
structure of the tri-n-butyl phosphate saturated water/octane was investigated through
molecular dynamics simulations. We compared the differences in interfacial tension
curves of water/organic systems with and without surfactants at different temperatures,
focusing on the effects of temperature on surfactant adsorption, interfacial stability,
hydrogen bond network, and water extraction. We found the temperature dependence
of interfacial protrusion formation and provided a molecular-level understanding of how
protrusions promote subsequent water extraction processes.
Supplementary materials
Title
Support Information for: Effect of Temperature on Surfactant Adsorption at the Liquid-Liquid Interface: Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Description
Support information including simulation details, interfacial tension curves, interfacial thickness, Water molecular survival probability and residence time, and statistics on the number of extracted/interfacial water molecules.
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