Mixed Monolayers of Tween-80 and Oleic Acid at Air/Water Interface

Polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate(Tween-80) and oleic acid(OA) with different molar ratios were mixed and spread at air/water interface on subphases with varied pH values by using a Langmuir trough to investigate the laws governing the performance of the two components.The surface excess free energy(△G) of mixed monolayers with various mixed molar ratios at different pH values under the surface pressure of 10 mN/m was analyzed,for the compatibility evaluation of mixtures in the monolayer.The results indicated that Tween-80 and OA could be miscible in thermodynamics under almost all the conditions in the experiments,except when the molar ratios of OA were more than 0.5 on the alkaline subphase at pH 9.5.The better thermodynamic compatibility between OA and Tween-80 occurred as the surface pressure was 10 mN/m,when the molar ratios of OA were 0.7 and 0.1 respectively in our experiments.